Legends: The Epic Rewrite
by Mysterious Lady Luna
Summary: What does one authoress do when she rereads the first chapter of her first story and hates it? She rewrites it, of course. Now that I have a laptop, updates should come faster than ever! And the challenge is now over as my sd card erased 10 chapters...
1. Chapter 1

In the darkness, a fierce roar pierced the silence of the midnight hour. The quiet village remained silent, but not due to being asleep. They were afraid to make a sound. Minutes passed. Another roar, another pause, though they could hear the beast approaching. Trees snapped like twigs below its taloned feet. Panic set in. The villagers fled like roaches when the lights are turned on. Another deafening roar and the scream of an unlucky villager. More fear added to the panic of the peasants. A young warrioress stood on a branch nearby, watching the scaly monster's attack. 'Damn... How am I supposed to undo this mess? Alexi... dumb dragon... though I could also be called an idiot... I can't even control my own dragon!' The warrioress rushed over to the dragon, leaping from branch to branch, as if that minute was a ballet and she was the graceful ballerina.

Landing gracefully, the warrioress glared at the dragon. "Down, Alexi! Bad dragon! Put the villager down!"

The dragon, leaning down, glared at its master. The warrioress could see her own raven's wing hair, messed up slightly from the wind but still as wavy as it had always been. Her pale white skin seemed to glow in the reflection, and her silver-blue eyes shone, two light-blue lights in the beast's dark scarlet eyes. Her pointed canine ears sat on top of the wavy hair, one slightly bent, though the warrioress had tried to straighten it multiple times. As the beast continued to glare, it slowly lowered the human to the ground and let go, allowing him to run away screaming in terror.

"Good dragon. Now return to your shadow."

The dragon snarled suddenly and unleashed its flame breath on its master. As the flames swirled around her, the warrioress saw two shapes emerge from it, one male, one female. The male had silver hair, dog ears, and a crimson outfit. The female wore a school uniform that looked extremely familiar...

"Luna! Wake up! You have five minutes to finish this thousand question quiz!"

"Fourty-two!" The sleeping girl fell out of her desk, much to the amusement of her classmates.

"Lunari, I am very dissapointed in you," The teacher stated calmly, pushing her glasses back onto the bridge of her nose. "This is the fourth time I've had to wake you up today!"

As the teacher took a deep breath to declare the punishment, the bell rang. As if being chased, the class, and Lunari, fled the room, leaving only empty desks and lost papers behind. "...Maybe I should start locking that door..."

Authoress: Well, I got criticized, depressed, confused, and ended up back here. I reread my eighth-grade writing style, and found it horrible... so I'm rewriting my story. It will change. And here's the biggest thing... I'm writing it from my phone! ...Which means I may be able to update more, but am uncertain whether my formatting will stay put... but it's a challenge. So, please review! I love hearing from you! Sayonara for now!


	2. Chapter 2

As everyone rushed out, Luna quietly slipped into an alley. As she expected, no one noticed. 'That was a bit too easy...' Quickly, she jumped from the ground to a windowsill, and from there to the roof of the building... Well, almost, anyway. She had managed to grab onto the edge, but was hanging from the side. 'If I were smarter, I would have changed at school... Now I have to be careful when I jump!' Luna struggled a bit more and found herself on top of the building. 'Well, at least it's quicker this way...' She dusted herself off as she stood up, turned in the direction of her house, and ran, leaping from building to building with extreme grace.

As soon as she hit the door, the first thing to come off was her shoes. 'Why must humans wear these damn things? I'm surprised I still have feet left!'

"Hello, Luna." The deep voice made Luna jump. Turning around, Luna saw that it belonged to a pale man, about her height with long fangs. His hair is what made Luna recognize him, however, because she knew only one person with short, dark brown hair and a large scarlet plume of hair hanging off to one side at the front.

"Oh, it's just you, Izuru... Kinda scared me there..."

"Sorry."

"Where is everyone?"

"Out hunting... or being hunted, as it seems..."

There was a long pause. As Izuru was preparing to say something, the lights flickered, distracting both at once. "Damn blackouts..." Izuru muttered under his breath at the lights as they flickered their last. "Been doing this all day..."

"Well, I'm starving. Can we hook up the microwave to our generator? I'd like some ramen..."

"I have to find it first... Hang on." As Izuru turned to the pile of electronic devices, Luna could have sworn she heard something in a nearby closet.

"Keep looking, Izu. I'm gonna look in this closet... I think I heard something..."

"If it's one of those hunters, please give him a good slash for me."

"Sure thing." 'But it has a strong aura... I don't think it could be a hunter...' Glancing around, Luna found and grabbed a sword from a nearby wall. The black and scarlet blade had been her mother's, and Luna knew it was illegal to have a sword in modern day Japan, yet she could not throw it away. It no longer even had use, typically being used as a decoration in the apartment. As Luna attached the sword to her side, she heard the noise again, this time sounding far louder and stronger. It seemed to call her, to subconsciously drag her to the closet door, to make her put her hand on the knob, to open the door... and get sucked in, the door slamming behind her.

Authoress: *is surprised that this much of her formatting actually stayed put this time*

Izuru: So, when is the old story going down?

Authoress: Whenever I get enough of this written. No comments yet, but if I get a good review, then I may consider keeping this.

Izuru: I'll get those reviews! *runs out*

Authoress: ... Well... Maybe it won't be as bad as last time... Sayonara, everyone!


	3. Chapter 3

Luna groaned, blinking a few times so her eyes could focus on her surroundings. The cold earth sent a chill down her spine, and it was everything she could do to keep from shivering. A foul odor assaulted her sensitive nose, making her feel extremely nauseous. The dimly lit room gave little information as to where she was. Finally starting to sit up, she froze. 'What is that sound?'

"I said for you to bring me the goddess of destruction, not a stupid half-breed..."

"Terribly sorry, master... Shall I eliminate her?"

"No, Kagura, you have failed enough. I shall destroy this one." Luna twisted out of the way in time to avoid a tentacle which would have gone through her skull. To her attacker's surprise, no fear shone in her eyes. "Ah, so I see you were awake... Doesn't matter much. You'll soon be a part of me..."

Luna slid out of the way as more tentacles flew towards her. She knew she wouldn't be able to dodge forever, but there had to be a way to stop him. As a tentacle tripped her, Luna remembered the special stone in a pouch she had attached to her uniform. She felt herself being dragged towards her doom and hoped her plan would work. Her hand flew to the pouch, extracting the shiny violet gem from it and focusing her energy to it.

The attacker only had time to blink before Luna was engulfed in a brilliant violet light. Within seconds, he was no longer seeing the half-demon school girl, instead seeing a half-demon in ancient black armor with large, multi-colored wings with blood-red edges. He felt the energy being drained from the room as Luna began to glow brighter, illuminating the dark cavern with an eerie light.

Luna could see the flicker of fear in his eyes as she got ready. She drew her sword carefully before slicing the tentacle binding her feet together, standing up, and flying into him at full force. There was a scream of agony and then the attacker was gone, not a trace left behind except for a hole where the first tentacle had gone. Luna giggled to herself as she let the extra energy dissipate and her armor dissolve. Sheathing her sword and placing the gem into the pouch, she turned toward the only source of light and set off toward it, curious to know where she was.

Trees surrounded the cave, blocking most of the sunlight off of Luna as she glanced around. She could hear voices nearby, speaking a familiar language, Japanese. 'Alright... so I've ended up in a cave... but still in Japan. This warrants investigation...'

Sighing to herself, she walked around for awhile, being careful to pay attention to every sound nearby. Trees rustled, wind blew, bugs buzzed, and children laughed. Stopping behind a tree, Luna glanced out from behind it and examined the villagers fom her vantage point. The children were wearing robes, though they were old, filthy ones. The village women walked around in kimonos, carrying water to their homes or chatting with others. 'Something tells me that i'm in Feudal Era Japan...' She thought she heard a sound behind her, so she leaped into the tree and examined everything around her. 'Simply the wind... I'm getting a bit jumpy... Maybe I need to leave the village for a bit...'

Izuru: I gots one! *rushes in, falls on face*

Authoress: This is my ninja? *facepalms*

Izuru: *gives the authoress her review*

Authoress: *opens and reads it, smiles* Why, thank you, SessysSmexy22355! I appreciate your comment! And, yes, that'll do. Ninja Izuru! Get up! *pokes him with a stick*

Izuru: *jumps up* Yes, Luna?

Authoress: Fetch me some more reviews from others, please.

Izuru: But you're the canine one, not me. I'm a vampire... a vampire with fangs. *grins to show off his fangs*

Authoress: Did you just call me a bitch?

Izuru: N-no...

Authoress: But I'm female.

Izuru: Yes...

Authoress: And you called me a dog...

Izuru: Y-yes...

Authoress: Therefore, I am a female dog...

Izuru: Yes... *looks fearful*

Authoress: And a female dog is a bitch.

Izuru: *gulps* I'm screwed...

Authoress: Yup! *turns to audience* Now review please! Reviews keep me happy, and no one likes me mad... *is getting out the rolled up newspaper*

Izuru: AAAAAAAAAH! *runs*

Authoress: Sayonara, everyone! *chases him with the rolled up paper* Get back here, you coward!


	4. Chapter 4

Luna nimbly scaled the tree in which she had hidden, taking care not to make a sound. Inching out to the edge of the branch, she studied the next tree to find one strong enough to hold her before finally leaping onto it. Repeating this process thousands of times, she found that she wasn't making much progress. 'Eh, screw it. If i'm going to find my way back, I'm gonna have to move faster than this...' Throwing caution to the wind, she leaped from branch to branch. There was a snap under her feet after several minutes of this, however. A sharp squeak slipped from her as she found herself eating dirt at the tree's roots. 'I need to lay off the ramen...'

She felt the aura approaching before she could hear its source. With a jolt, she realized there was no place to hide from it. 'Shit... Demon stampede!'

The stampede of demons rushed in on her, surrounding her and giving her the look a predator gives its prey. She could feel the evil from their auras and knew that she wasn't getting away easily. Drawing her sword, she glanced around wildly, searching for a place to run, trying to figure out which one would move first.

The first one lunged for her, causing her to whip around to face it and slash with the blade, leaving it split in half on the ground. To her horror, they devoured the corpse of their former member. 'Damn... They're so hungry they're eating their own! I don't want to be lunch! Wait a second... This may work in my favor...' Focusing, she spun the sword in a figure-eight pattern, bending her wrists so that the loop curved around her body slightly. Calmly, she walked through the crowd, decapitating and slicing up any demon in the way, distracting those left living with a meal of freshly slain demons. Once clear, she sprang up into the air, quietly landing in a tree. Putting up her sword, she decided to continue traveling.

After a few seconds of leaping from tree to tree, Luna froze. There was a silver-haired demon traveling with a small human girl, a two-headed dragon, and a reptilian demon which Luna could not entirely figure out the species of... and they were heading straight for the stampede. 'With that few people, someone could get hurt... but that man looks like royalty...' Pressing up to the tree and using it to hide from him she deepened her voice slightly. "I wouldn't go that way if I were you..."

A second later, she was pressed to the tree and a katana was pointed at her throat. The silver-haired demon was glaring at her viciously.

"I was just giving advice... sheesh..." Luna kicked suddenly, knocking the blade from the demon's hands. "Don't you know it's impolite to threaten girls?"

"No one speaks to Sesshomaru-sama like that! You better be thankful he hasn't sliced your head off, you filthy mutt!"

Luna only grinned before lifting her head from her body. "Surprisingly, it wouldn't kill me. I've been beheaded so many times that I can do this painlessly." Effortlessly, she blocked another attack from the demon as he attempted to use his claws on her. "You think I wasn't expecting that, sir?"

'So much skill... This Sesshomaru should not kill her... Why the hell is this Sesshomaru thinking this?'

"Either way, my offer of advice stands. There's a stampede of demons up ahead," Luna placed her head neatly on her body, "and they're pretty damn hungry... They ate one of their own earlier... and that human girl's as good as a snack for them. Possibly that reptile thing with you, too. Good luck..." Luna turned her head to look straight at the demon who attacked her, "...and farewell, Sesshomaru-sama. It was fun." She smiled and leaped away before he could figure out what happened.

Stopping a few seconds later, she couldn't help but giggle. 'Damn he's cute... If only he didn't want to kill me...'

**'"Cute" my ass... He's hot. Admit it.'**

'Ugh... Shut up, Instinct...'

**'Admit it! He'd make a good mate...'**

'Just leave me alone, damn it!' To her relief, her instinct obeyed her command, though she had a feeling that the man hadn't taken her advice. 'Well... maybe I should go back and kill the demons... or at least make a distraction... Don't want anything sentient to get hurt...' With that, she turned back towards the stampede and rushed towards it, preparing herself for a battle she wasn't sure she could win.

Authoress: Well, I'm surprised I managed to finish this so soon… Oh well… Now to resume the chase… *looks for Izuru* Sayonara, everyone! *chases him*

Izuru: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! *runs for his life*


	5. Chapter 5

Luna raced into the crowd of demons with determination in her heart and her mother's sword in her hands. She could feel them snapping at her, feel the breath as they tried to bite, feel the sharp teeth sinking into her flesh. Slashing wildly, she managed to kill several, but the demons kept rushing in, five replacing every two she killed. She could feel warm blood covering much of her, though it was uncertain if it was hers or her enemies'. Letting out a screeching yell, she tried transforming into her dragoon form, but failed miserably because one demon had bitten into her shoulder, making her lose her focus and screech in agony. In desperation, she slashed at the one at her shoulder. Suddenly, she felt herself being dropped. The demons turned away from her to look at the new intruders. To her horror, she recognized them.

The demons flew at them, gaping mouths opened to reveal hungry, bloody teeth. Sesshomaru calmly drew his sword and charged at them, using only one hand to hold onto the katana. Luna noticed how easily he sliced through them. 'Impressive, Sesshomaru-sama. Very impressive indeed...' Luna made an attempt at standing. No luck. She collapsed again, groaning as dirt got into her wounds. 'Damn...' Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a demon sneaking around the rest. He was approaching the human girl and reptile thing. Luna couldn't explain why, but she felt a protective rage building within her. Forcing herself to sit up, she lifted her sword into the air.

The two who were traveling with Sesshomaru were too distracted by watching the fight to notice the demon sneaking around to get to them. Right before it chose to leap at them, the human girl turned and saw it. A sharp scream hit the air, full of fear.

The girl's fear didn't last long, however, because the demon, who had chosen to strike when the girl screamed, had a black and crimson blade sticking out from its head. The demon fell to the ground with a thud, blood rushing from the wound as it died. The girl turned around again to find the source of the blade and saw the half-demon from earlier passed out on the ground, covered in wounds and blood. Climbing down from the two-headed dragon, the little girl took the blade from the demon's skull and walked over to the young half-demon. "Are you alright?"

No response. The human rolled the half-demon girl over and discovered she was unconscious. Tears rolled down her cheeks as Sesshomaru slayed the last demon and glanced over to see her, still holding the half-demon's blade, and crying. "Rin."

"Y-yes, Sesshomaru-sama?"

"Don't get too close to that." He calmly walked over to the half-demon and had to fight to keep from showing any emotion when he realized what it was that she was close to. 'It's her...'

"Can you save her, Sesshomaru-sama?" Her chocolate-colored eyes were pleading as she turned to look at him. "She saved me from one of the demons..."

Sighing, he decided to give in. Sheathing the blade, he drew a second blade. Focusing, he could see the demons of the underworld chaining her up, preparing to drag her away. Using the sword, he slashed, killing them all in one slash. Quietly, he sheathed the second sword and knelt beside the half-demon, who appeared to be regaining consciousness fairly quickly.

As Luna's eyes opened, she jumped at the sight of the demon, who was looking down at her with the slight glimmer of surprise in his eyes.

The demon was good at not smiling, but he couldn't hide it in his eyes, and that's where Luna saw it. Somehow, she felt comforted.

"Excuse me," The sudden sound made Luna look at the girl. "Could you please tell me your name so I can thank you?"

"My name is Lunari, but you can call me Luna." As she said her nickname, she couldn't help but glance at Sesshomaru, hoping he heard it. "Why don't you tell me your name, little girl?"

The human smiled brightly before speaking. "My name is Rin! This is Sesshomaru-sama, and that's Jaken." She pointed at both of the men as she said their names. "And those dragons are named Ah and Un."

"They look identical... How do you tell them apart?"

"Ah likes to be petted, but Un doesn't."

"I see." Luna smiled, glad that there was one being in the area that didn't want to kill her.

"Foolish human girl! Don't socialize with that foul thing! Get out of the way so Sesshomaru-sama can destroy it!"

"Jaken." Sesshomaru's voice held a deadly tone to it, making the reptile freeze and suddenly look quite fearful.

For what felt like a century, there was silence. Finally, Luna noticed the moon rising. "It's getting dark... and Rin is probably tired... maybe I should leave so you can make camp..."

"Luna?"

"Yes, Sesshomaru-sama?"

"Stay. You still have wounds that are open."

While she wouldn't want to admit it, she honestly needed no second invitation. "Shall I clear out the bodies? Or do we intend on eating them?"

"Clean up. I'll hunt." Quietly, he stood and rushed off without letting Luna say anything else.

"Well, looks like I should get started..."

Authoress: What is this? Three chapters in a day? I must be a superhero!

Izuru: *collapses from exhaustion* You win...

Authoress: Of course I do. The pen is in my hands, remember?

Izuru: Damn... Gotta find me a pen...

Authoress: Only in your dreams, ninja, only in your dreams... Now you people know the drill. You've read, now review. Love hearing from you people, I really do. Sayonara, everyone.


	6. Chapter 6

Soon after the space was clear and a fire was started, Sesshomaru returned with three rabbits, freshly killed and ready to be cooked. Quietly, he gave Luna two of them and took the third one for himself.

"You sure you don't want me to cook that? I could make that taste better..."

"This Sesshomaru likes his raw."

"Oh... I was worried that you thought I'd burn it to a crisp... Oh well. More cooked rabbit for the rest of us!" Luna cheerfully stuck the meat onto some sticks she'd cleaned off and used the sticks to hold the meat close to the fire. After awhile, Luna took the meat from the fire and gave Rin one of the sticks, then gave the other to Jaken.

"That one was for you." Sesshomaru's low voice was entirely inaudible to everyone except Luna.

"I'd rather not let them go hungry though..." Her reply was soft, far too light to be heard by anyone except for Sesshomaru. "I ate earlier, so I'll be fine for a while longer."

Sesshomaru made no reply, but instead returned to eating his rabbit. When Luna wasn't watching, he sliced off a decent portion of meat. He got up after eating everything but the saved portion and calmly walked over to Luna. Without waiting on her to ask what he was doing, he gave the piece of meat to Luna. "Eat... please."

Jaken gasped in shock. 'He never says please! Ever! What spell is my lord under?'

Rin, however, giggled and whispered, "He likes her..."

Jaken, upon hearing this, was too shocked to even speak.

Fortunately, the two that were being talked about weren't listening. "T-thank you, Sesshomaru-sama..." Luna had to glance at the ground to keep him from seeing her blush.

Sesshomaru had to admit that he was lucky at this part, because if she had been looking at him, she would see him blushing quite a bit. Without saying anything, he quickly made his way back to his seat at the bottom of the tree that Luna had fallen from earlier that day, leaving Luna to devour the food that he had given her. 'Why does this Sesshomaru feel this way? This Sesshomaru should want her dead... but somehow, he can't kill her... can't picture killing her... wants her safe with him... why?'

The rest of the night passed rather uneventfully. Rin and Jaken were quickly asleep. The two-headed dragon occasionally snored, the sound of which being the only sound disturbing the silence of the night. Luna had climbed into a tree to nap for a few moments, leaving Sesshomaru on the ground to eventually doze off.

It was what had happened in the morning, however, that made these details so important. Sesshomaru had fallen asleep on the ground, however, did not wake up there. To his surprise, Sesshomaru had climbed into the tree with Luna and was holding her when he awoke. Her soft snores let him know that she was still asleep, but could easily wake up if he moved. He glanced down at the tiny female who was asleep on top of him. 'How odd... that peaceful expression reminds me of-'

Rin sat up so quickly that it made Sesshomaru jump, accidentally dropping Luna on her head.

"Oi! What's the big idea?" Luna rubbed a swelling knot on her head. "I was sleeping there!"

Sesshomaru couldn't help but smile at the angry girl on the ground. 'Somehow, she looks cute when angry...'

"Don't just sit up there and grin... I want some answers! Or an apology!"

"How dare you speak to Sesshomaru-sama that way! I'll burn you!" Jaken jumped up, staff in hand, getting ready to charge at the half-demon.

"You'll do no such thing." Sesshomaru's words stopped Jaken in his tracks. "She has done nothing wrong."

Luna blinked for several seconds before realizing what had just happened. "Um... I could have protected myself, you know..."

"Yes, but then you would have to bury him."

"You speak as if this would waste my time."

"It would. I want you to be entertaining Rin."

Luna's eyes widened. 'All of this... for THAT? Well... at least it can be fun... wait... he said he wants me... even if it is to take care of the little girl, this could be my chance... wait... chance at what?'

Sesshomaru had noticed the slightly distant gaze and hesitated. "Unless... you don't want to..."

That was all it took to get Luna out of her thoughts. "No, no, i'll do it. The little girl needs someone to teach her to be a woman... and neither of you can teach her that, so I accept." Luna smiled nervously. 'Oh, good going, genius... You just insulted them!'

"Rin, get on the dragon. Jaken, grab the reins. Luna, on the dragon with Rin." His tone held no room for argument, yet his eyes betrayed how he really felt. Smiling from happiness instead of fear, Luna helped Rin onto the dragon, then climbed on herself... only to fall off on the other side.

Meeting Sesshomaru's amused gaze, she muttered, "Is this a bad time to admit that I have trouble riding any creature with a saddle?"

Instead of laughing, as she expected, Sesshomaru picked her up and set her onto the dragon, making sure she wasn't about to fall off. Sesshomaru took a few steps away from the rest, then looked over his shoulder. "Jaken."

The servant jumped, then pulled on the dragon's reins and lead it onward. Little did the group realize, their journey had only just begun.

Authoress: Another chapter finished. Yay!

Izuru: *cheers*

Authoress: Shut up, Izuru.

Izuru: What'd I do?

Authoress: Hurt my feelings.

Izuru: Wait... You have feelings?

Authoress: *slaps him* Review please! It'll make me feel better. Sayonara, everyone!


	7. Chapter 7

The sky seemed clear as the group traveled onward, occasionally having to stop to help Luna back onto the dragon. The sun beamed down hard on Luna's head, making her wish she had brought a hat. 'I just know my ears are fried...'

"Luna?"

"Yes, Rin?"

"Is something wrong?"

"Huh? Oh... Not really, but thanks for your concern."

"Your skin is red..."

Luna, upon hearing this, touched her cheek and nearly screeched in agony as she realized what Rin was pointing out. She had a sunburn! 'Should have brought sunscreen... Wait... who brings sunscreen when they think they're just looking in a closet?' "I should get out of the sunlight... maybe find some aloe for this sunburn..."

Sesshomaru signaled for Jaken to stop. "We need shade." Watching as Jaken pulled the two-headed dragon over to a nearby tree, Sesshomaru sniffed. 'This Sesshomaru has no idea what she asked for... but at least this Sesshomaru knows there's some herbs here... Maybe one of these is what she needed...' His memory flashed back to the various times when he had been sunburned. He knew that it could really hurt and realized that part of him actually felt sorry for the half-demon girl. "Luna, watch Rin." Sesshomaru hurried off, leaving Luna, Rin, Jaken, and the dragon.

There was complete silence for a bit. Not even the birds chirped. Luna watched as Rin curled up slightly. "Perhaps I should be the one asking you if there's something wrong..."

"My belly hurts..."

This caught Luna's attention. "Where?"

Rin pointed at her lower abdomen. Luna, processing this information quickly, took awhile to figure out what to tell her. "Well, this just means that you're getting closer to being a woman. When Sesshomaru-sama gets back, I'll talk to him for a minute and make arrangements to make this transition more comfortable for you."

Luna paused to try to figure out how far away Sesshomaru had gone. Off in the distance, she could hear his nearly silent footsteps. "He'll probably be back in a few minutes."

Rin smiled. "So, I'm going to be a woman just like you?"

"Um... well... not exactly like me... You are a human, after all."

"When I'm a woman," Rin looked up at the half-demon, "I want to be just like you!"

"Well... thank you." Luna smiled, surprised that the girl thought that much of her.

"You're slowing Sesshomaru-sama down, you filthy mutt!" Luna narrowly dodged Jaken's staff as he swung at her head. "And, you, Rin, should not consider her a role model!"

"Jaken." A deep voice made the demon flinch and drop his staff.

"Sesshomaru-sama, you're back!" Luna smiled, "I have something we need to discuss... after you get done, of course."

Sesshomaru tried his best to keep his emotionless expression, but his eyes betrayed him yet again. "Yes, of course, but first..." Sesshomaru, keeping his regal appearance, kicked Jaken in the head. "Unless this Sesshomaru tells you to, don't threaten Luna... or Rin, for that matter. Now, we may speak, Luna."

Luna calmly stood up and followed Sesshomaru over to a nearby tree, not far from where they had left Rin and Jaken. "Have you noticed something, Sesshomaru-sama?"

"Hm?"

"Rin's becoming a woman... and we have no supplies..."

"Supplies?"

'Oh god... Please tell me I don't have to explain how a female body works to him...' "Well, you see... when females reach a certain age... they bleed. Humans call it a period." Upon seeing his confused expression, she added, "Demons refer to it as being 'in heat'."

"Oh... That... Lovely..." Luna could tell that she had just royally embarrassed the royal demon as he tried to cover his face with his hand.

"Well, you have me to help. We need supplies though..."

"For what?"

"For the blood. I just said that..."

"Oh... What supplies?"

"Cloth. I believe that women from this time period use cloth."

Sesshomaru blinked, then nodded. "This Sesshomaru will bring cloth for Rin."

"And one more thing..."

"Yes?"

"Why do you speak in third person? I've never understood that..."

"Because, it makes this Sesshomaru unique." He smiled at Luna. "Does it bother you?"

"Only slightly. Probably because of hearing everyone else speak like I do... But it's ok. I was just curious."

"It's ok." Sesshomaru calmly took something out of his armor and handed it to Luna. She could tell from the scent that it was aloe. "This Sesshomaru found that for you. It should help with the sunburn..."

For once, Luna was glad she was sunburned because it hid her blush quite well. "T-thank you, Sesshomaru-sama..."

Authoress: No more fluff! I've written fluff for a few chapters, so next chapter will have a fight! But who will fight? Review to find out! Or... you could just wait a bit. It isn't finished yet... Oh well, Sayonara for now!


	8. Chapter 8

It had been a few days since the sunburn, and Luna was almost fully recovered, though her face remained slightly pink. Surprisingly, her skin hadn't started peeling, and Sesshomaru was taking more caution with having Luna out in sunlight. Even more surprising was that Luna had figured out how to stay on the dragon without falling every five minutes... after Rin had taught her. In exchange for the lesson, Rin happily listened as Luna told her about the time period Luna had come from.

"Are there dragons where you're from?"

"Nope. We have other ways to get from place to place."

"Horses?"

"Nope... Well, they exist, but we don't use them. We have large metal things called cars... Though I prefer to walk from place to place. The cars are too noisy."

"What does it look like there?"

"There's a lot of buildings. Tall buildings. Barely any trees. At night, we have lights to illuminate our streets."

"It sounds amazing!"

"Maybe to you... but I don't like it... It's crowded... and the people aren't friendly... The place stinks and there's not much nature. Altogether, I like it here much better."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it's missing the few things I enjoy from where I'm from, but that isn't actually a big deal..."

"What kind of things do you enjoy there?"

Luna had to think about how to word what she was going to say. "Well... we have moving pictures on a screen... and stories are told with them. We have music that we can take with us and play whenever we want to hear it, without having to take an entire musical group or instruments with us. We also have a special box that connects us to the rest of the world. With it, I could talk to anyone anywhere, no matter how far away they are, and get a reply as if they were standing here talking to me."

"Wow! That sounds awesome!"

"It is, but that stuff wouldn't work here... No power source. Well, maybe one thing." Luna calmly turned around and pulled something out of her shirt. Turning back to Rin, Luna revealed what she had taken out from her shirt. It was a small box with a cord wrapped around it. At the end of the cord was two oddly shaped lumps of a hard and shiny substance.

"What is that?"

"This is the portable music I told you about. I remembered I had it with me."

"But I don't hear anything..."

"Give me a second." Luna pressed a small button and the screen lit up. Hitting a few more buttons, Luna finally had it set to something she deemed acceptable, and gave one of the oddly shaped lumps to Rin. "This goes in your ear."

Rin, at first confused by the strange device, nodded and placed the lump in her ear.

A slight gasp made Sesshomaru turn around. To his surprise, nothing was attacking. Instead, Rin was smiling and swaying with the music from the strange box-like object. Smiling slightly, he turned back around and continued walking. It wasn't very long, however, before he had the feeling he was being watched.

"Luna?"

"Yes, Sesshomaru-sama?"

"Do you feel like you're being watched?"

"Yes, actually... and it's annoying... can we kill whatever is watching us please?"

"If it attacks us, I'll handle it."

Luna smiled at him, then started carefully scanning the undergrowth. Staying silent, she finally closed her eyes and focused. Her demonic aura slowly expanded around her, carefully enveloping the group and spreading to the surrounding forest. She could feel everything inside her aura: Rin's small, yet light aura; Jaken's aura, though nearly unnoticeable; the two headed dragon's strong aura; Sesshomaru's powerful aura, like a neon light; a squirrel that had wandered too close to the group; something dark and abnormally strong... "There!" Luna pointed at a blue and green serpent demon as it leaped at Rin.

Sesshomaru, hearing Luna, had no time to react before the demon had grabbed Rin. He could see that Luna was on its back, slashing furiously with her claws as she tried to break through its shell.

The demon only laughed at her attempts as it lifted its tail into the air. Sesshomaru saw the shiny barb and tried desperately to stop it, but the barb on its tail sunk into Luna's back, making her screech in pain.

Sesshomaru felt the furious rage building as the demon removed its tail from Luna's back, causing her to fall onto the ground limply. Instead of reaching for his sword, he lunged at the demon, eyes starting to turn red with anger. As the serpent demon slid out of the way, Sesshomaru let his true form emerge. The serpent demon blinked in surprise and dropped Rin as he was now facing a twenty foot tall demon dog.

Not wasting a second, Sesshomaru picked up the demon with his mouth and crushed it, letting it fall back onto the ground. Making sure it was dead, Sesshomaru returned to his human-like form and went to check on the girls.

Rin was scared, but unharmed. Luna, however, was unconscious and barely breathing. Sesshomaru could tell she was steadily getting worse.

"Sesshomaru-sama?"

"Yes, Rin?"

He could hear her fear and sorrow in her voice as she whispered, "She'll be ok, won't she?"

Suddenly, he realized that he couldn't answer her. He only faintly noticed he was shaking, and could feel something wet sliding down his cheek, though he was almost convinced that he could never cry.

"Sesshomaru-sama?" Rin moved to where she could see his face and gasped in shock. She had never seen him like this, and it was quite a change from his usual expression.

"The jewel shard is over here," a voice shouted from the forest. The sound of footsteps approaching made Sesshomaru look up. Recognizing the voice, he tried his hardest to hide the fact that he had been crying.

A young girl ran out first, carrying a bow and a few arrows, freezing as her eyes met Sesshomaru's. A young boy wearing a solid red outfit followed her. Following them was a man in dark robes and a woman in a demon-slayer's outfit.

"Sesshomaru!" The first boy jumped in fromt of his friends, drawing his sword quickly.

"I have no time for your nonsense, brother. This Sesshomaru requires the assistance of your priestess."

"Luna needs help!" Rin started crying as the first girl calmly walked over to the tiny girl.

"It'll be ok, I'll help."

"What? How can you help him when he's tried to kill me all my life?"

"Sit, boy."

The boy in the red outfit crashed to the ground, being dragged by the beads around his neck.

The priestess, meanwhile, carefully examined the half-demon beside Sesshomaru. 'Her outfit... it's the same as mine... She must be from my time... but why is she here?'

"Will she live?" Sesshomaru's low voice brought the girl out of her thoughts.

"She's poisoned... Hey, Sango, do we have any antidotes left?"

The demon-slayer looked through her supplies and gave the priestess a small packet of herbs. "The last one."

"We need to get her to swallow these herbs... Is there any way we can wake her up?"

Sesshomaru thought carefully. "We could drop her on her head... though that would hurt her worse..."

"If you can get her awake, she'll get better."

Sesshomaru calmly picked Luna up and dropped her, eliciting a groan from the half-demon. Slowly, she opened her eyes, blinking in confusion.

"Here. You need to take these herbs..." The priestess watched as Luna turned her head, looking everywhere, then finally stopped when she was looking at Sesshomaru. The priestess noticed that Luna seemed a lot calmer as she saw Sesshomaru. Quietly, she gave the packet to him. "Get her to take these, please. She seems to trust you more."

Sesshomaru nodded, gently lifting Luna's head. "Take these... You're poisoned, and these herbs are an antidote..."

Looking into his eyes, Luna could tell he was telling the truth. Carefully, she swallowed the herbs, grimacing at the horrible taste. "Now if only it wasn't so nasty..."

The priestess giggled, "That's what I thought when I first took them..."

Luna glanced at the new humans and the half-demon boy who was muttering obsenities. "Who are you people?" 'and why do two of you look so familiar?'

The priestess smiled, "I'm Kagome Higurashi."

"My name is Sango," the demon-slayer smiled at the half-demon girl.

"This is Inuyasha." Kagome brought the boy in red over to Luna.

"Feh."

"Inuyasha, be nice."

"I shouldn't have to be nice to friends of my brother."

"Sit, boy!"

Inuyasha hit the ground with a loud thud, which made Luna jump backwards.

"Sorry about that... He gets a little grumpy sometimes..."

Before Luna could react to that, the man in the robes was right in front of her, holding both of her hands. "and my name is Miroku. Fair maiden, I must ask if you'd consider bearing my childr-"

"Finish that sentence and you're dead." Luna and Sesshomaru blinked, looking at each other in surprise. Neither one had expected the other to say something, much less the exact same sentence at the exact same time.

"Oh, wow..." Luna blushed, looking away from Sesshomaru.

"Um, yeah..." Sesshomaru looked away from Luna, blushing as much as Luna.

A short boy with bright orange hair ran up to Luna. "Just ignore Miroku. Sango will take care of it." Laughing a bit, he added, "My name's Shippo!"

Luna smiled at the boy. 'He's quite obviously a fox demon... I can tell from the tail...' "My name is Luna. It's nice to meet you, Shippo."

"Are you a half-demon like Inuyasha?"

Luna blinked in confusion. "I... er... what kind is he, exactly?"

"You can't tell?" The boy in the red outfit half-growled at Luna.

"Not exactly... I can't tell if you're a dog or a cat." Sesshomaru noticed the mischievious grin on her face.

"I'm not a fuckin' cat! I'm half dog demon! How the fuck do you get that confused, bitch?"

Luna calmly stood up and strutted over to the furious boy, pointed at him and poked him in the chest, "One, I may be a bitch, but I'm most certainly not your bitch. Two, you will treat me with as much respect as you can muster." Stepping back, she answered Shippo's question, "and, no, I'm not the same as Inuyasha. I'm technically three-fourths demon, and three types of demon. The last fourth is human. However, I do refer to myself as a half-demon, simply because saying 'three-fourths' demon every time someone asks would be quite a mouthful."

"Feh."

"Is that a challenge, Inuyasha?"

"Yeah, bitch."

"Bring it, pup."

Inuyasha charged at her, preparing to use his claws on her back. Instead of running or turning around, Luna calmly stepped to the side at the last minute, dragging her foot so that it would trip him. Due to the forward force, he rolled as he fell, smacking into a nearby tree. "Damn it..."

"And that's why you don't mess with me."

Authoress: Hi again! Got three new chapters for you, my loyal readers.

Izuru: SHE'S GONE MAD! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!

Authoress: *throws water bottle* Shut up over there.

Izuru: *is hit with water bottle* Why'd you do that for? I'm not Justin Bieber!

Authoress: If you were, that would have been a flag pole. *remembers what her 12-year-old cousins did to her, shudders* I swear I don't get why he's so popular... Anyway, my thanks this time go to Vegitotheeverlastingwarrior for reviewing. As you all should know by now, I love reviews. So, be sure to let me hear from you!

Izuru: Let me translate that last statement. She has no life, and wants to hear from the outside world- *jumps back as Authoress hits the bars of his cage with the flag pole she was talking about*

Authoress: Angering the flag girl is not the brightest idea, Izuru. Sayonara for now, everyone. *steps into the cage with the flag pole*


	9. Chapter 9

The mysterious girl raced into his line of vision, focusing solely on the body of the dead serpent demon.

"Kagome! Wait," a male voice sounded from somewhere behind her.

'Oh great... They're here... I hope one of them has an antidote or else...'

The human girl froze when her gaze found Sesshomaru. He heard the gasp of horror as she saw the body laying close to him.

The male who had called out to the horrified girl ran into the clearing, stopping short when he saw the tiny dog ears on the body. "Had to kill another one, Sesshomaru?"

"Brother, I do not have time for your insolence. She is not dead, she is poisoned, and I need an antidote."

A small groan brought everyone's attention to the half-demon girl. "Couldn't be any quieter, could you? I'm trying to recover over here..." She coughed suddenly, blood coming out. "But of course, the blood... it's in the way..." muttering to herself, she added, "need a damn vampire over here..."

"I could drink it, if you'd like..."

"Sesshomaru-sama, that is... the most hare-brained idea I've ever heard... and believe me, I know a hare-brained idea when I hear it... My blood is poisonous to you... It contains venom that can melt rocks when exposed to air."

"Maybe we could help?" The human girl looked from Luna to Sesshomaru, hoping that one of them would respond.

"Why would we help them? He's tried to kill me before!" The man beside her interjected.

"Inuyasha, sit!"

The interrupting man fell to the ground with a loud crash. "Sorry about that... We'll still help, though," the human girl smiled.

"Well, if I had no blood in my body, I could recover faster..."

"If you had no blood in your body, you'd be dead." Sesshomaru smiled slightly at the half-demon girl.

"Actually, no... my venom can work as blood... but it hurts like hell for three days... still... I'd be poison-free by midnight."

"You... are an odd one, Luna. But I don't know of any way for us to get the blood out..."

"If I could get home, one of the vampires there could help..."

"It's three days to the well, so it would be rather dangerous to move you..."

"Well? What well?"

"The well to get back to our time." The human girl known as Kagome smiled, "It's kinda obvious that you aren't from here..."

About this time, Luna noticed the outfit the girl was wearing. It was exactly the same as hers. "You're from... Tokyo?"

"Yes. We go to the same school."

"I've never seen you before..."

"I can tell by your uniform..."

"Oh, right... Forgot this was actually a uniform..." Luna shrugged. "I was thinking about switching this out for a kimono anyway... I'm pretty sure much of Japan has seen my underwear by now..."

Sesshomaru tried to hide his disapproval of the idea, but Luna noticed the subtle change of expression.

"And you disapprove of me covering myself?"

'Quick, think of something!' "A kimono would restrict your movement... and you are quite clumsy..."

"I think you disapprove for other reasons... you perverted dog demon..." Luna blinked as a thought came into her head. "Pervy puppy."

Kagome couldn't hold back a giggle.

"I do believe I'm older than you, Luna."

"Sesshomaru-sama, I'm a lot older than you would believe."

"I doubt it."

"Well, at least you don't think i'm old enough to be your ancestor." Luna smiled and put her arms behind her head, trying to relax. "But I am."

Authoress: *is still beating up Izuru with a flag pole*

Izuru: HELP ME PLEASE!

Authoress: Shut up! *Smacks him in the head with the flag pole, knocks him out* Now that that's over with, I must say sayonara. Got one last chapter for today.


	10. Chapter 10

It was three days before they made it to the well that Kagome had mentioned. Luna was almost fully recovered, Rin was overly-excited about getting to hang out with a small fox demon named Shippo, who happened to be traveling with Kagome, and Sesshomaru wasn't sure what he felt, the emotion being an odd mix of happiness, due to Luna's recovery, or annoyance, due to having to be around his brother and the humans he traveled with. There had been multiple fights, usually stopped by Kagome punishing Sesshomaru's brother or by Luna giving Sesshomaru the puppy-dog eyes.

"Finally, we're here!" Kagome's cheerful voice rang out through the trees.

Luna sighed. From what she had been told, not everyone could go through the well, and she didn't want to leave her new friends behind, though she knew her responsibilities were beyond the well, back in Tokyo where she belonged. "I guess this is goodbye, then..."

Sesshomaru frowned, noticing how sorrowful Luna's eyes looked. He had heard her tell of the many things that she did in Tokyo, of her group, of the people that wanted to hunt them, and knew he couldn't ask her to stay. "I guess so..."

Realizing that Kagome was already jumping into the well, Luna calmly walked to it and sat on the side, glancing back at everyone she was leaving. "Goodbye, everyo-"

Rin tackled her, giving her a hug, but also knocking her backwards into the well. Sesshomaru's instincts kicked in and he lunged after them, tripping over Shippo, and falling into the well himself.

They had expected to hit the bottom. They expected a thud and a reminder of what gravity is. What they didn't expect was the blue glow that enveloped them, the feeling of weightlessness, then the gentle landing next to Kagome.

"Well... that was..."

"Odd..." Luna finished Rin's sentence as she tried to figure out why Kagome was looking at her as if she had suddenly sprouted three heads.

"How did you all get through the well?"

"Um... gravity, I guess... I dunno... You were the one who suggested the well, not me." Luna blinked as she answered Kagome's question, no longer sure what was going on. Sitting up, she turned to Sesshomaru and Rin. "Since we're here, I can show you where my group lives!"

Sesshomaru smiled, happy that Luna didn't have to leave forever, while Rin cheered, excited to actually see some of the amazing things she had been told about.

After disguising Sesshomaru in some clothes borrowed from Kagome's family and a tiny bit of makeup, they set off for Luna's home. The streets were crowded with vehicles and pedestrians, all rushing and yelling without any regard to the unusual group. The stench from the road made Sesshomaru want to cut his nose off completely. It felt odd to be in such an open space after a year of traveling under trees. It felt even more odd when he looked in one of the shop windows and saw large boxes with moving pictures on them.

"This should be it." Luna stopped at an apartment complex and opened the door, holding it for everyone. Inside, it was quite obviously old with wallpaper peeling and stains in the carpet. Luna pressed a button on a small gray panel and waited. There was the sound of a tiny bell ringing, then a large grey door opened. "This will take us to it, but we need to hurry. No strangers in the elevator."

The three blinked before quickly crowding into the tiny room. A large gray panel was next to the door, and was the only relief from the horribly ugly wallpaper. Luna turned away from the others as she removed a small pewter key from her shirt and stick it into the panel. Twisting it, the door slammed shut and everyone felt the elevator lurch before beginning its ascent.

With a final lurch, the elevator stopped and Luna extracted the key. "This is our stop."

The door opened swiftly and shut after the last person was out. "Someone probably called it... good thing they can't get here without the key..." Fumbling through her keys, she failed to notice that the door was actually off of its hinges. "Where did I put that door key..."

"The door's open..."

"Huh? It's supposed to be shut at all times..." Luna put her keys back into her shirt and stepped through the door cautiously.

Her sudden gasp made everyone rush in after her. The walls were charred, leaving almost no trace of the wallpaper. The floor was covered in ashes which used to be furniture. In one of the piles, something resembling a hand was sticking out. Luna was kneeling beside it, digging through the massive amount of ashes to find whatever could be attached to the hand. Slowly, she managed to uncover a body. "My sister..."

They could see Luna trembling, trying desperately not to cry in front of the group at the door. Everyone jumped at once when they heard an outrageously loud snore come from the body.

"Zakura! You're alive!" Luna shook the sleeping girl until she finally grumbled and opened her eyes.

"What the hell... Hey, why do you smell singed? Wait... that's me... Why do I smell like this?"

"I think there was a fire... I dunno. I haven't been here in a few days..."

"Speaking of which, where the hell were you?"

"That's a long story. We have more important matters."

Rin, meanwhile, had slowly walked over to one of the walls and stood there as if unsure where to go.

"Something wrong, Rin?"

"I feel something pulling me, Sesshomaru-sama... Something's telling me to go this way... But I can't because of the wall..."

Sesshomaru blinked, then looked at Luna. "What's in that direction?"

Luna glanced at where Rin was, then replied, "I've tracked hunters to a hideout which was over there..."

"Then why does it feel like something's pulling me?"

"I don't know... but this may be useful..." Luna paused, thinking carefully. "I think I've got a plan."

Authoress: *is asleep*

Zakura: *whispers* She's had a hard day... So I'm speaking for her. She wanted me to tell you all to have a happy Easter, and to be sure to review. Sayonara now.


	11. Chapter 11

The group leaped from building to building, everyone focusing on Luna, who was leading them. Luna, however, was getting her directions from Rin. The plan had been simple: get Rin to lead them to the hideout, sneak in, and free everyone they could. So far, Rin was confident that her directions were correct, because the pulling force she had felt was intensifying, as if she was getting closer.

"How much further? This human is slowing me down..."

"Well, I'm sorry I can't run fast enough for you!"

"Kagome! Zakura! Both of you need to stop complaining!" Regaining her composure, Luna added, "Besides, we're here. Kagome, stay with Rin. Zakura, Sesshomaru-sama, both of you should follow me. I'll need help breaking the locks."

Zakura saluted almost mockingly as Sesshomaru nodded. Calmly, Luna leaned over the edge of the building.

There were three hunters standing outside, smoking. One of them was a tall man with spiky hair, the others were two women, one that was short, the other only a bit taller than the first. It wasn't the people that Luna was interested in, however. It was the uniforms that she wanted.

'Alright, look for shadows...' The hunters were standing in a shadow. 'Build up energy...' The group that was with her gasped as they saw a dark violet flame engulf her, growing bigger and more intense. 'Pull shadow...' The shadow grew darker as it moved slowly, covering the people's legs and spreading up their bodies. 'Burn.' The flaming energy around her caught the shadow she had moved, igniting it like a spark to gasoline. The screams of the humans were cut short by the shadow, which was thickening, crushing anything that wasn't burned. Releasing the shadow, the flames died out, leaving nothing except three uniforms and a pile of dust. "Hurry. Put the uniforms on before someone comes."

Sesshomaru and Zakura rushed over to the edge of the building. Zakura simply leaped over the edge, landing next to a uniform, while Sesshomaru gaped at the damage that Luna had done to the hunters.

"Well, you coming with us or not?" Luna's eyes met his for a second, then lowered to find the uniform, then met his again. "I went through a lot of trouble just to get you this uniform..."

He needed no further invitation. Landing gracefully, he took the uniform and watched as the girls turned the outfits upside down and let the ashes fall out, forming piles at their feet. 'I can do that...' Carefully, he tilted the uniform, watching as a substantial amount of incinerated remains fell. 'Brain, remind me to never upset Luna...'

"Ugh... This has to be blasphemy on so many levels..." Zakura had obviously meant to mutter this to herself, however, had spoken too loudly to keep Luna from hearing.

"No, it's revenge... ancient tribe style. Someone harms your family, you kill them, take their skin, wear it, and harm their family. These uniforms are their skin, just as the scales of a snake." Luna smiled, the dementedness of her comment fading as her cheerful smile made them forget. "We need the helmets too..." Luna picked up something that looked like it was a shiny plastic bucket and placed it on her head. "Ew... Mine smells like alcohol..."

"Mine smells like cigarettes... Wanna trade?"

"I'm allergic, Zakura. Do you want your little sister to stop breathing and die?"

"No. Just sayin', though..."

Sesshomaru suddenly noticed that both of the girls were staring at him. Sighing, he put the helmet on. "Mine smells like..." He couldn't place the scent. It was horrible. A mix of death, tobacco, and a sickening odor that made him want to throw up everything he had eaten that week. It made his head swim with nausea.

"You gonna be ok?"

"This Sesshomaru is not affected by this stench."

"Does he always do that?" Zakura turned her bucket-helmed head to look at Luna.

"Yes. It makes him unique. Now, stop goofing off and let's go rescue the group. Zakura, need you to hack the door open."

"On it." Zakura extracted a card from one of the pockets on her suit and slid it through the card scanner. To their surprise, the door clicked and opened. "Well, that was easy..."

"Too easy... be on your guard. Act natural."

"Moo."

"Zakura... stop."

"Fine."

The trio carefully started walking down the narrow hallway, trying not to flinch at the pained shrieks, trying not to let a tear fall when they heard a mourning mother sobbing about her missing children. The hunters they saw looked as if they were enjoying a casual day at the office despite the agony and sorrow around them.

"Mikhail! There you are! You're just in time to come perform the dissection!" A scrawny girl with dull black hair and overly-tanned skin grabbed Sesshomaru's arm.

Trying to keep his cover, he coughed and tried to fake having a sore throat. "Sorry, kinda sick... One of them creatures got me with some poison gas... I took an antidote for it though... I should be better tomorrow..."

"Oh... Sorry then... Maybe next time then!" The girl smiled all too sweetly and pranced off.

"I must say, I am impressed. I didn't know you knew their accent..."

"I heard that guy say something right before you got him." Behind the anonymizing black plastic, Sesshomaru grinned at Luna's compliment. 'I impressed her...'

Luna stopped at one of the cells and glanced around. Noticing that the hall was clear, she signaled to Zakura to open the lock.

One girl switched places with the other as Zakura pulled a hairpin out from her hair and eased it into the lock. Listening intently, she twisted the tiny piece of metal until there was a click and the door opened slightly.

Luna signaled to Zakura and Sesshomaru to keep watch as she eased into the cracked door.

"You'll never take me alive, bucket-head!" The occupant of the cell tried to tackle Luna, but her head met with Luna's hand instead.

"Chill, Reita. It's me." Luna calmly lifted her helmet slightly to show her face. "And I assure you that I am no bucket-head."

"Luna Kenichi, back from hell-knows-where... Glad to see you in a place like this... I didn't mean it like that."

"I said to chill, so chill. We gotta get everyone out. Where's the leash?"

"On the shelf. I can't touch it. You remember what happens..."

Luna clipped the leash onto her wrist like how she had seen the hunters do, inserting it into a special clip and closing the clip so that the leash would stay attached. Reita's end of the leash was already around her neck, as if they had been expecting to take her somewhere. "Ready?"

"If I have to be."

"You know the drill... depressed, lonely, tortured."

"Got it."

Luna strode out boldly, as if she really was a hunter, a mere human, who had tamed a demon and put it on a leash. She knew this walk all too well, memories filling her mind as she stepped out.

**Flashback:**

Day and night had run together in the time since she had been in the cell. The leash on her neck chafed her skin and left tiny cuts all across her neck. They no longer bled, but still ached as if they were fresh wounds. There was no food, as the hunters felt that she didn't deserve any. She _had_ killed half of a squad of them by herself before they got her, after all, and no creature that kills one of them can be deemed "good". The water she recieved often had been sitting out for quite awhile, letting little baby mosquito larvae swim about in it as it recieved her look of disgust. She had to admit that they were good at what they did, for she felt nearly defeated... but only nearly. They didn't realize that demons ate worse than just mosquito larvae. They didn't realize that some of the various creatures they caught, tortured, and murdered could actually understand what they were saying. Above all, they didn't realize that the half-breed they held in that cell knew she'd get out if she waited...

The door creaked open as one of the hunters came to take her to her daily session of torture. Luna studied the strange man as he hooked the leash onto his arm, not noticing as Luna memorized every step. Boldly, he jerked at the leash, forcing Luna to fall, clutching the choke-collar and gagging. "Well well well... Lively today, aren't we? I'm sure you'll enjoy today's experiments..." Not expecting or recieving a reply, the man dragged her from her cell, with such pride in his expression and posture that he almost looked like the valiant hero in children's stories, and Luna knew that in his mind, he probably was, ridding the world of something he deemed evil, never caring to ask if this was true or not.

Part of her felt guilty for doing what she did, but the other part screamed for more as she finally pulled back on the leash, flinging him into the cell and detaching the leash in the same motion, shutting the cell door too fast for him to process and hearing it lock behind her. **End Flashback**

'I just hope she doesn't do that to me...' She decided not to think on that, but instead to focus on imitating the hunter's undeserved sense of pride. "Shall we continue?" Her voice was far deeper than normal, but Zakura and Sesshomaru nodded, recognizing it despite the contrast in pitch.

Almost an hour passed, and they had found five. Five demons out of over thirty. Luna mentally grumbled as she led them through the hallway, wishing she could leave.

"Is that a safety release button?"

"I think it is... Why? Please tell me we haven't just walked in circles..."

"I wanna press it!" Before Luna could stop her, Zakura had pressed the button, opening every cell and door in the building as well as setting off every alarm.

"Nice going, Flopster... What's your encore?"

"This." Zakura took some ammo out of another one of the hunter-suit's pockets and threw it at the hunters that were running up to them. These, however, seemed to know what they were already, as they tried to avoid the ammo. "They know we're imposters... Time to ditch the helmets! Fluffers, aim low!"

"Got it, Floppers!" Luna took her helmet off swiftly, sliding her leg outward as she lowered her body, flinging the helmet as she moved. The discarded helmet took down two hunters, a dull cracking noise letting the world know that Luna had shattered one hunter's leg. The one from Zakura knocked down one hunter, breaking through his unprotected skull. Sesshomaru's helmet, however, missed all three and landed on the floor noisily. "You know, someday, I'm gonna teach him how to throw a helmet..."

"Let's go!" Zakura led the others to where the hunters tortured everyone, letting Luna give out the orders once they were there.

"Free everyone you can! Don't leave any of our kind behind!" Luna's slightly panicked voice made everyone start moving, some to pick the locks, others to smash or pry them open. Some of the rescued had to be carried, while others limped, dragging the unconscious behind them. Luna carefully removed several injection needles from one unconscious boy as Sesshomaru watched, unsure of what to do. He could tell that the boy was a young fox demon, though older and taller than Shippo. Carefully, Luna scooped the small boy up and carried him over to where another fox demon was being held, this one being an adult. Luna passed the boy to Sesshomaru and focused on freeing the adult, who was barely conscious and muttering something about a tiny silver piccolo.

The metal bracelets holding the man onto a lab table fell away as Luna tore them apart, letting them hit the floor with four sharp clinks.

"Why yes, lovely maiden, I'd love to teach you to play..."

Luna smiled, knowing that he was delusional by now and that this was helping him ignore his pain. Throwing him over her shoulder, she murmured softly, "Teach me how to play, Elidian, and I shall teach you to play clarinet."

"Ah, yes, that would be lovely..." The man chuckled to himself, eyes half-lidded as if he was drunk. "And then, we dance."

"And then we march." Luna was halfway to the exit with Sesshomaru behind her.

"Then we eat..."

"Then we play again." She was outside, rushing through the crowd as they cleared a path, focusing on where she went.

"Then we do the fandango...

"Then we sing on our way down the hill, say our goodbyes, and go home for the night... Returning the next day to do it again." Luna smiled as she jumped back onto the roof to pick up Kagome and Rin. To her surprise, Inuyasha had followed them. "Since you're here, can you carry them? My arms are full..."

"I want a pineapple! And I want to name him George!" Elidian slurred the words as he looked around.

"Pipe down back there... I'll get you a pineapple when we get home..."

"Is he drunk?"

"No, just out of his mind right now. We need to get everyone back to the apartment, though... They're all hurt... Follow me."

The large group rushed down the street a bit, stopping as Zakura threw a grenade at the building that they had just left, then continuing as if their lives depended on it. Luna managed to cram everyone into the tiny, old elevator and get everyone to the secret floor, rushing to get everyone out. 'I just hope we're not too late for anyone...'


	12. Chapter 12

Luna checked over each person's wounds carefully, yet very quickly. Sesshomaru stood in the doorway, amazed, as he watched the tiny half-demon work her way around the room, cleaning and bandaging with amazing skill, never missing a step. After she checked over the last person, she collapsed at Sesshomaru's feet.

"Luna!"

"Dude, chill. She's probably just exhausted. For someone of her skill set, she has very crappy endurance and energy. She can't do too much without collapsing..." Zakura glanced over at one of the less-injured men. "Angelo, do you think you can get a few people to gather supplies? We need to rebuild... or at least set up some beds..."

"Yes, love." Angelo gracefully crept past the sleeping creatures, despite being an entire head taller than most of the others in the room as well as twice as thin, finally stopping beside Zakura. Kissing her lightly, he glanced around the room. "I'm not sure if there's anyone else fit to get supplies, though..."

"Well, don't go by yourself... I can go. Hey, wait, where'd that one guy go? He's clearly a half-demon, so he can help."

"My half-brother? You'd have better luck convincing a rock to fly..." Sesshomaru gently set down the boy he had been carrying, picking up Luna as he spoke.

"You talkin' 'bout me?" The silver-haired half-demon glared at Sesshomaru.

"Yes. These two would like your help getting some supplies so that they can fix up this place."

"Feh."

"Inuyasha..." Kagome's voice caused the half-demon boy to jump. "Don't make me say it..."

"Okay okay! I'll help!"

"For once, I don't even want to know..." Zakura muttered to Angelo. "But at least we have help."

"Agreed." Angelo swatted at a strand of hair hanging in front of his face. "This is getting annoying though..."

"I have a question though..." Inuyasha paused as the small cluster of people glanced at him, "Why are you holding Luna, Sesshomaru? Something doesn't seem right about that, especially since she isn't the person you carried in here..." There was a look of triumph in his eyes as his brother was at a loss for words, seeming to be a mixture of shocked, afraid, and embarrassed.

For once, Sesshomaru really couldn't think of what to say, or even if there was something he could say. Every possible idea that came to mind held so many ways that it could go wrong. He didn't want to say that he liked her, for fear that Luna may reject him. He couldn't say it was to protect her, because there was nothing in the room with the exception of Zakura, Angelo, or Inuyasha that could harm her. He couldn't even claim that he was comforting her, because her blank expression hadn't changed since he picked her up.

"Well?"

"Inuyasha, sit." The man fell on his face at the woman's word, the necklace around his neck glowing a light violet. Kagome glanced over at Sesshomaru again, examining his expression with the same care as a jeweler would a diamond. "You like her, don't you, Sesshomaru-sama?" It hadn't been a question, but the hint of respect and sympathy confused him.

Struggling, he finally managed to reply, an oddly timid "yes", but still a reply nonetheless. 'She says one thing about me liking Luna, and I'm reduced to nothing... Why does this happen?' Without thinking, he added, "She surprises me at every turn."

Kagome smiled knowingly. "Maybe later, we can make a deal... since we're in the same boat."

'And what does this have to do with boats? Women can be so confusing...' Sesshomaru glanced around the room. No one seemed to have noticed the conversation at all, most either asleep or chatting with one another. 'And somehow, I'm thankful for that...'

"Later" came far too soon for Sesshomaru, as Kagome sat with him, in what apparently had formerly been a bathroom. "What is this deal that you speak of, priestess?"

"Well, since you're going to be straightforward about it... I like your half-brother... but he doesn't notice me... not unless I have food..." Kagome glanced up at him to see if he managed to understand what she was implying. He did not. "I'd like it if you would talk to him... maybe convince him that I like him?"

"How does this benefit me?"

"You talk to him..." Kagome glanced at the door, where Inuyasha left, meaningfully, then to where Luna was, wrapped in the fuzzy thing that Sesshomaru always carried on his shoulder, and placed to where he could see her through the door frame. "And I will convince that half-demon girl to give you a chance."

"Priestess, you have a deal."


	13. Chapter 13

The deal that Sesshomaru had made with Kagome had seemed quite simple. He was simply to tell Inuyasha that Kagome liked him, and Kagome would persuade Luna to date him. In truth, as he was realizing, this was nearly an impossible task. It wasn't that he couldn't say it, but rather that Inuyasha wouldn't listen.

"Inuyasha, if you'd just listen for a moment-"

"Feh." The half-demon walked to the other side of the room, grumbling under his breath.

Sesshomaru chased him. "This is important, Inuyasha..."

"Leave me alone." Inuyasha hurried to the side that he had just came from.

Sesshomaru could feel the anger building, but before he could stop it, he yelled, "Damn it! Kagome likes you, and we made a deal that if I tell you that she likes you that she'll get Luna to go out with me!" His face turned dark red as he realized what he had just blurted out.

Inuyasha's eyes were wide with shock. "Y-you mean... she likes me?"

"Yes, little brother." Sesshomaru was hiding his face.

Inuyasha smiled, appearing as if that was all he had noticed. "She likes me..."

Sesshomaru flinched suddenly, feeling a small hand touch his shoulder. "Good job, Sesshomaru," the owner of the hand cheerfully replied to the unspoken question. "I'll talk to Luna for you."

"Talk to me about what?" The alto voice of the half-demon girl in question resounded in the empty space of the apartment's living room. "Damn echo..."

"Do you like Sesshomaru?" Kagome turned to look at the tiny girl, still wrapped in the fluffy thing that Sesshomaru usually carried with him.

"Wha..." Her face turned bright red, eyes wide with surprise at the unexpected question. "What makes you think that?" Laughing nervously, Luna scratched the back of her head as an attempt to excuse her trembling.

"Well, do you? You know, the sooner you admit to it, the sooner I'll stop asking..."

"But he's right there!" If Luna could have died of embarrassment, she would have, by this point.

"And he likes you, so just admit it already. I have other things to do besides pester little half-demon girls, you know."

Luna paused as her brain processed this information. 'Wait... _he _likes_ me_? A purebred demon... and royalty, at that... does he not realize he'll be killed if anyone found out?' "He'll be in danger if I say anything." Her voice was cold, but sounded forced. "I cannot allow him to like me."

"Do you not realize," Sesshomaru paused as Luna's eyes met his, "That I've thought of that already? I'm willing to take the risk. As for you, the worst you could get is a beheading, but since your head can detach from your body... I really don't think they'll manage to do much. I can fight as well as you... And I say that I like you. I dare to like you."

"That has to be the longest statement you've ever said to me." Luna's comment caught him off-guard. What surprised him further was that she stood up and strode over to him, swaying slightly as she walked. "Since you _dare _to like me... I'll _dare _to date you. How's about that, killer?" Luna's grin held almost a mischievious light to it, matching the gleam in her eyes and the tone in her voice.

"I'd like that quite a bit."

"How sweet!" Kagome's whisper caught Inuyasha's ear. "Although I find it weird that they kinda look like us..."

"They're like reflections." Inuyasha replied to the overly excited human. "They look like us, but they're the opposite." 'Wow, where did that come from? Though it's true... Still...'

Authoress: I apologize for not writing one of these commentary panels on the last two chapters... We all just got back from a band concert, and we're very tired...

*group of band kids behind her starts snoring*

Authoress: I think I'll join them... Sayonara, everyone. *lays down next to the pile of band kids & falls asleep*


	14. Chapter 14

It had only been a few hours, but already the place was looking better. The walls had been replaced with sheets of plywood, and a few demons were working on covering the plywood with some wallpaper. The floors were cleared of the ashes. Beds had been made from several large sheets of cloth and many old pillows that Inuyasha had discovered. Hammering could be heard as two fox demons worked on building a frame for a couch.

"Ow! Damn it! Watch where you're hammering!"

"I would if you wouldn't put your hands there!"

The older demon chuckled, "That's what she said..." Both cracked up.

"I don't get it..." Sesshomaru whispered to Luna, who glanced up from her work as he spoke.

"It's supposed to be perverted..."

"Oh..." Sesshomaru watched as Luna carefully sewed a cloth bag shut, setting it to the side to pick up another. "So... what are these?"

"Couch cushions. Once Makoto and Elidian finish building that couch, We can attach these & it'll be very comfy." Luna smiled as she continued, wincing when she poked her hand by mistake. "Damn... I need to learn how to be more careful..."

Sesshomaru paused, trying to think of something to say. "Um... What was it like in the hunters' hideout?"

"You followed me in there... Did you forget already?"

"No... but it seemed almost like you'd been captured before..."

"I have... multiple times."

"And yet, you're alive..."

"Because I broke out."

"You don't like talking about your past, do you?"

The silver needle went through Luna's thumb as he spoke. She didn't even notice in her shock. Trying to regain her composure quickly, she resumed sewing. "There's nothing _to_ talk about... It's not that I don't like it..."

"You've sewn yourself to the cushion..." Makoto was right in front of her face, chocolate eyes staring into her crystal blue ones. "And you promised I'd get to practice my healing magic if you got hurt again..."

Luna sighed, smiling in relief that she had escaped Sesshomaru's questioning. "Sure. Do you remember how to, though?"

"Of course. Remove foreign object..." He cut the thread with a short, sharp claw and pulled the blood soaked material out of her wound. "Wrap up..." He took a handkerchief out of his pocket and wrapped it around Luna's thumb. "Focus on healing..." He shut his eyes and focused his energy on healing the hole in Luna's thumb. Opening them, he grabbed the handkerchief. "Unwrap." Pulling on the handkerchief, he revealed a perfectly healed thumb, with no evidence of the wound.

Luna carefully examined the thumb. "Very good, Makoto. At this rate, you'll be an excellent healer. Thank you very much." Smiling, Luna re-threaded the needle and returned to her work.

"Oi, Makoto, a little help here?" Elidian held up one post with his head. "The couch is trying to kill me."

"I doubt an inanimate object can kill you..."

"Is it the person making swishing sounds or the sword that kills people?"

"Wait... what?"

Sesshomaru's attention went back to Luna, watching as she was careful not to jab herself in the thumb again. 'I wish she'd just tell me...'

"I hear your thoughts... We need to talk... now."

Sesshomaru nearly attacked as a strong hand grabbed his arm and hauled him onto the roof. The hand released him once the body it was attached to had landed.

"I know you want to know her past... but _I _want to know what your intentions are. And you'd best answer quick. I've killed things thousands of times bigger than you."

"Well... I don't really know... I like her a lot... but, Zakura, I can't get her to tell me about her past..." He had stood up by now, dusting himself off.

Zakura walked in a circle around him, examining him as an archaeologist would examine ancient pottery to determine if it was real or fake. Finally, she stopped. "You don't look dangerous... for a demon. You seem to be telling the truth too... Maybe I can help you..."

Sesshomaru blinked, not expecting that response. "So you'll tell me her past?"

"No." There was a deadly calm tone in her voice as she spoke. "That is hers to do, when she chooses, but I will tell you this. Her past was far more tragic than most. She tries to forget. But nothing is truly ever forgotten. The imprints are there... and they cause her pain, so she rejects them. Her dreams remind her of her scars... of her pain... and she's afraid of getting hurt again. She guards herself as a loyal guard guards his queen. The only way to know is to get close to her... You must break through. My advice is, start by holding her hand. She bonds by touch, not words." As the last word was spoken, Zakura climbed off of the roof and back through the window.

'Bonds by touch? Well... if it will help her...' Sesshomaru followed Zakura back into the apartment.

Luna was not where he left her, but her scent led to her room, though it was nearly covered by the scent of overwhelming fear. He had to fight the panic rising within him as he got to Luna's room. 'Panic is useless. She needs someone calm, not scared out of their wits...'

Luna was on her bed, curled up, and had a look of terror and pain on her face as she slept.

'Bonds by touch...' Sesshomaru entered the room and knelt by her bed. 'Bonds by touch...' His hand gently shook her until she was almost awake, then took her hand. 'Bonds by-' His thought was cut short by a slight noise from Luna, who was convinced she was still dreaming.

'He's holding my hand... His hands are smooth... and warm... very warm...' A smile slowly spread across her face.

'It's true then... Wow... She's beautiful like that...'

Authoress: Sorry I took so long... I got in trouble (oddly enough, for writing fanfiction... Seriously, mom needs to grow up and realize that putting their daughter's phone in the trash will not stop the daughter from waiting and getting it out of there later...)

Zakura: Wait... Aren't you a bit old for her to be bossing you around like that?

Authoress: Yes, but she thinks I'm two.

Zakura: ...Ouch.

Authoress: Oh well, what do you expect? I'll be out of the house in a year or so... And I'm the only child...

Zakura: It will get worse.

Authoress: It already is... She bought a dog...

Zakura: How is that worse?

Authoress: She compares me to the dog.

Zakura: ...wow...

Authoress: Yep. *looks at audience* Hey, you guys still here? I've got the two chapters that you were expecting... And since you all were so nice, I'll let you have a third chapter. Nice little present there. Also, I'd like to thank .eclipse () for the review. The reason I can write these stories from my phone is that it's one of those "smartphones" (I actually consider it rather dumb, myself... Since it keeps telling me I've mispelled my name...) and it has a word program on it (With no spellcheck). After typing it there, I have to use my computer to convert it to a file that will upload correctly. Well, I've got to go put the next two chapters on... Sayonara!


	15. Chapter 15

Sesshomaru stayed there, next to Luna's bed, holding her hand, for almost an hour. He didn't even notice the time passing. Instead, he noticed when Luna would occasionally giggle or try to hide a bright pink blush from him. He found it extremely interesting how one small thing could make her react like this, but noticed she was starting to get tired again. 'If I try to hold her hand while she's asleep... She'll probably hit me...' A memory flashed in his head of the time he held her while she slept, back when he had only first met her. But that had been an accident, though he never knew he could sleepwalk. "You seem tired..."

"I am..." Luna's alto voice sounded like she was dreading what would come next. "But I don't want to go back to sleep..." 'No... I just don't want to be alone again...'

"I was wondering... maybe I could hold you while you slept? I'm tired too... and I don't like being alone in strange places..." His attempt at sounding meek was extremely awkward, but he hoped Luna would fall for it.

"You know, you're really bad at pretending to be pathetic... So stop it. I would have said yes without that tone. Come on. I'll try not to hog the bed."

Luna's smile comforted Sesshomaru as he climbed onto the bed beside her. Calmly, he put his arm around the tiny half-demon girl and relaxed. Luna turned over so that she could face him and snuggled up to him.

"You're warm..." Luna's voice trailed off as she fell asleep.

The next morning, there was chaos. Elidian had managed to glue his hand to the couch, Zakura had knocked over one of the doors, Makoto had accidentally broken some of the pipes in the bathroom, causing water to spray everywhere. In the room where Luna and Sesshomaru slept, however, there was nothing but calm. Luna stretched as she awoke. Suddenly, she froze. There was something in front of her, that was alive and had its arm around her. 'What is...' The memory of last night rushed forward, and she couldn't help but to smile. 'Sesshomaru... is holding me...' Softly, she giggled, blushing at the thought.

"Damn it! I need more nails!"

"Well I need more pipes!"

"I could use some glue remover..."

'What the hell is going on out there?' Luna was completely still, listening to the chaos. None of the noise she heard was a clue as to what was going on.

"I see you're awake."

The voice made her jump. "S-Sesshomaru-sama! You scared the hell out of me!"

The demon chuckled as he pulled her closer. It was the first time she had ever really heard him chuckle, and Luna couldn't help but smile about it. 'I made him do that... He needs to do that more often...' Luna stretched. 'Maybe I'll reward him...'

"I have a question..." His voice shook her from her thoughts.

"Um... shoot?"

"Could you tell me about your past now? Even a tiny bit?" Sesshomaru's gaze held hers.

"I... I'm not sure..."

"I heard bits and pieces from your sleeptalking... and I would appreciate you putting them into context..."

"Oh... uh..." Luna's cheeks turned a bright shade of red. "I didn't know about that... That kinda changes matters..."

"So will you tell me?"

"Not that memory... I don't feel comfortable explaining that... But you can ask another question to see if I can explain that. I might be comfortable enough to explain memories that are more current..."

"But I already know about that... I went through that with you..."

"A little bit further back than that..."

"Oh... I'll have to think of something to ask..." Sesshomaru paused for awhile, trying to pick a question that would get him the most information possible. "You've said you've been captured by hunters... What was it like there?"

"I don't think you'd want to know that..."

"But I do... and it's recent." He gently pulled Luna closer to him. "And I won't let you go until you tell me..."

Luna blushed as she realized he was holding her, and blushed even more when she became aware of how tightly he was holding her. She could smell his scent clearly from here, since her face was almost touching his neck, which carried the scents of the forest and a few dandelions. 'He smells good-' Something touched the top of her head and stayed there. She felt a warm breath on her ear. 'Is he... sniffing me?'

While Luna had been distracted, Sesshomaru had simply put his head on hers, trying not to distract her, yet attempting to figure out why her scent was so incredibly familiar. The group's scent was so thick in the room that Sesshomaru almost had to stick his nose inside Luna's ear to be able to smell her. She had the faint scent of trees, though that could easily have been from the forest. There was a floral scent that had caught his attention when he had first met her. It took some time, however, before he realized that he had even taken notice. As he carefully analyzed her scent, he froze mid-breath as he realized what he smelled. 'Lavender...'

Memories flooded back to him.

**Flashback:**

Sesshomaru was a teenaged demon, calmly waiting outside of his father's strategy room while his father talked to the head general. He knew this general, though he had never seen his face. It always seemed like he was wearing the thick samurai armor that was traditional where the general was from. Sesshomaru tapped his foot, growing impatient from the waiting. 'What could possibly take this long?'

"I'm telling you, Touga, I strongly suggest not mating with Princess Izayoi unless you intend on keeping her here. If you do, people will try to kill her, and my men are still wounded from the last battle we had..."

Sesshomaru became very silent. 'That sounded like... a woman? No, that can't be right... General Tsukino is a man... not a woman... or... is he?' The question left Sesshomaru with a raised eyebrow as he decided to walk into the room.

The scent of lavender hit his nose as he walked in. What he saw made him drop the scroll he had been trying to deliver. There was no armor in sight, nor a General Tsukino. Instead, there was his father and a diminutive woman with raven hair and sparkling silver-blue eyes. Her ears were canine, and one was flopped over to one side, as if it was simply too lazy to stand up.

"Damn it... at least shut the door..."

Sesshomaru rushed to obey, never taking his eyes off of the strange girl.

A few months down the road, the girl he had met was his girlfriend. She went by a somewhat different name, Tsukiko, but he didn't mind. He sometimes wondered if she missed wearing the heavy armor and acting like a general, but every time he looked in her eyes, he could tell she was happy to have left it behind. "Tsukiko, I want to ask you something..."

"Yes, love?" Her alto voice rang out, blending with the chirping birds.

"Will you meet me in the garden tonight? I wanted to ask you something important, and I figured since tonight's the lunar eclipse..."

Tsukiko blushed. "Gladly, and after you do, I will tell you my true name."

"I would like that very much." Quickly, he kissed her on the lips. "It's a date then. Moon-high, at the bridge in the garden."

"Agreed."

That night, he waited. Moon-high passed with no sign of Tsukiko. Dawn came and found him alone. Sunrise came and went, fading into noon, without a trace of Tsukiko. He checked her room. No sign of her ever being there. Even her scent was gone from the room she had occupied. Collapsing on his knees, he cried for the first time in his life.

**End Flashback**

'She left... with no trace... though that should be impossible...'

Luna, meanwhile, had noticed that his scent was familiar as well, though she couldn't explain why, or how. 'Of all my memories, why did I lose this one? This one seems like it should be a good memory, but it's missing... a gap in my hindsight... I must know why he smells so familiar.'

Sesshomaru flinched as Luna's nose touched his chest. "Are you alright?"

But Luna was already lost in her memories.

**Flashback:**

What she could remember of the scent was vague. No visual memories were there. She couldn't remember a voice, though it would have helped greatly if she could have. Her memories were of being held, of wandering around with a sense of excitement and wonder, and always, always, being surrounded by that scent.

Everything suddenly changed and her vision came back. She was in her room, getting dressed up for something, when two guards knocked her door off of its hinges. Leaping back in surprise, she narrowly missed the hands trying to catch her wrists. Unfortunately, the second guard, who had tripped over the door he had knocked down, had a grip on her ankle, bringing her down onto the wooden floor with a loud thump.

"Get away from me! Let me go! I've done nothing wrong!" Luna's screams fell on deaf ears as the first guard caught her wrists and pinned them down.

"But you have, dearie..." A smooth, low voice came from the doorway. Luna gasped as she saw the thin, silver-haired woman who had spoken. "You advised my mate to bring that human slut here... Which, I really wouldn't have minded, except for the fact that she's pregnant, though I've been trying for years to get pregnant again... But no matter... I plan to see you, that little slut's pup, and all the half-demons purged! It will be illegal for a person to even see a half-demon without attempting to kill them! And a shame on their family's honor if they fail!"

"It won't work! There will still be some who will survive!"

The woman simply grinned, "But you won't. Guards, take her outside and slice her head off. Do whatever you'd like to the remains, as long as my son doesn't see them. Send me a maid for this room, too. I need to get this revolting stench out of here..."

Luna screamed and cried for someone to help, but the housemaids and servants simply looked on, as if she was invisible. "Sesshomaru! Sesshomaru, help me!"

**End Flashback**

Luna gasped as the screams flooded her mind. 'Is it really... the same guy? The scent is the same, and the name seems to be, too... but how can I tell?'

"Are you alright?" Sesshomaru repeated after hearing the gasp. "What's wrong?"

"...I just got part of my memory back..."

Outside, chaos was ensuing, and Zakura was left trying to hold things together. Makoto had found some pipes, but couldn't get them to stay attached to the sink. Elidian had fallen asleep, still glued to the couch.

The door slammed against the wall as Luna stormed out, the look on her face warning everyone not to say anything. She grabbed the glue from where Elidian was and took it to Makoto, gluing the pipes together without a word to anyone. Noticing that Makoto had some nails in his random assortment of junk, she took them, and proceeded to fix the door that Zakura had knocked over. "There, everyone happy now?"

"I'm still stuck..."A half-awake Elidian muttered.

"I don't know what'll get that glue off... sorry. unless..." Luna ran off to the kitchen and returned with a butterknife. "We're prying your hand off."

Working quickly, she detached the hand from the couch with only a few curses from Elidian. Returning the knife to the kitchen, Sesshomaru decided to approach her again with what they had been discussing..

"Why won't you tell me why you left-"

"FOR THE LAST DAMN TIME I DID NOT LEAVE!" Luna was breathing heavily, eyes darkening with rage. 'How dare he say that I left the one place where I was happy... I was executed... I know it. I have the detachable head to prove it...'

Zakura quickly jumped between them. "Ok, chill, guys, chill... Sesshomaru, go over there." Zakura pointed to the couch. "Luna, let's not murder anyone in our rage, ok? Here, let's go back into the bedroom and talk it out like diplomatic creatures. Come on, fluffers."

Luna sighed, then followed Zakura back into her bedroom without even a glance towards Sesshomaru.

He thought he noticed her wobble a little as she moved to shut the door. He had no doubt she could easily kill him, if she tried. He remembered seeing her fight once, back when she was known as 'Tsukiko' to him. She was deadly, if not always graceful. She could move quickly, despite the weight of armor. She was quick to spring back up when she fell, though relatively unlikely to. She was also very skilled at magic, something he struggled with. Where he was able to get one whip of light, Luna was able to cover the field in pure shadow and drag someone through the floor with it, disappearing not only from sight, but existence, if what he had heard of it was reliable.

Sighing, he slumped over on the couch, holding his head with his hand, trying to hide his misery from everyone else.

Inuyasha gasped as he saw what happened next. Of everything unexpected, he had never thought he would see this. Tears were falling down Sesshomaru's cheeks... Even though he was trying to hide it, it was obvious what he was doing. What's worse is that, for once, Inuyasha pitied his brother, but couldn't explain why. 'This is the man that tried to kill me all of my life... and yet, I feel sorry for him? Why? Why do I pity him this much?' Something inside was nagging at him to ask what had happened. He didn't want to do it, but he felt that he had to. "Sesshomaru, what happened?"

Sesshomaru blinked, confused at why his brother would be concerned at all. 'Maybe it's time I explained everything...' "It has to do with the reason I've been trying to kill you for so long..."


	16. Chapter 16

Inuyasha's mouth fell open. "Really? Tell me! I believe I deserve to know what I'd done wrong..."

"It's a long story... but yes, I suppose you do have a right to know."

Inuyasha sat down beside his brother, listening intently.

"A long time ago, before you were born, our father had a general in his army. This was no ordinary general, though. Her name was 'Tsukiko', or, at least, that's what she told us to call her. I met her one day when she wasn't in her armor, and we both took an interest in each other. She taught me to fight. Of course, she was better than me, even though she was a lot clumsier. I only saw her fight to kill once, and I knew I didn't want to face her, yet somehow, that made me want her more."

"Is this going somewhere?"

"Yes, Inuyasha. Be patient. As you know, father took a young human princess as a mate, enraging mother and earning a collective gasp from the demonic community. It wasn't illegal as it is today, just frowned upon due to how fragile they are. What made mother angry, however, is when Izayoi, the human in question, got pregnant. She was furious. She ordered that all half-demons be executed on sight, and my Tsukiko disappeared..." Realization dawned on him as he spoke those last words. 'She wasn't lying... I've got to apologize... but first...' "That day, I swore I would kill the person responsible, and I was convinced that it was you. I had a violet crescent moon tattooed to my forehead so that I would never forget my vow, and I didn't."

"But isn't it illegal to tattoo a demon? Or for the demon to have a tattoo?"

"It is, but so is killing your brother. Even if his mother's pregnancy caused your future mate to disappear. Figured that if I was breaking the law, I might as well do it right."

Kagome had been staring at the crescent moon on his forehead for some time now. "So is that why it doesn't match your markings?"

"Yes, actually." Sesshomaru froze as he felt two strong, slender arms hug him tightly. He could feel the person's tears soaking his back.

"You did that... for me... It was wrong, but still... it's the thought that counts..." Luna's voice sounded withered, as if all the fury it had held earlier had never existed. Everyone noticed that she was trembling as Sesshomaru turned around to look at her.

"Luna... I'm sorry I didn't believe you... I didn't fully understand what had happened..."

"I shouldn't have snapped at you..."

"But still, you had a right-"

"No, I didn't... Of many things i'm good at, patience was never one of them... I can try, but I always fail..."

"Not in my eyes..."

"Ok, this is too sappy." Inuyasha growled at both of them.

"Grr, Inuyasha. That's all I have to say right now. Grr."

"Feh." Inuyasha glared playfully, causing Luna to tackle him, which, of course, led to a small wrestling match.

"Wow..." Kagome facepalmed. "They're about as mature as kids aren't they?"

"I think you're right." Sesshomaru couldn't help but smile as Luna held his brother in a headlock. "But they're ours... Get him, Luna! You can do it!"

"Won't they get hurt?"

"No, that's how demons play. And since she's getting along with him so well, maybe I can, too..." Sesshomaru smiled at the thought, then paused. "Hey, aren't your friends worried about us? We've been here a few days now..."

"I forgot all about them!"

Authoress: Hurry! While mom's in the driveway!

Zakura: The keyboard can't take it, captain! *breaks keyboard* Damn!

Authoress: She'll hear you! *sees her mom come into the house* She did hear you! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!

Zakura: *runs in circle, trips over dog, hits the "submit" button*

Authoress: *sees her mom go into the kitchen* False alarm. Sayonara, everyone! *closes webpage*


	17. Chapter 17

Kagome struggled to climb out of the well. Upon remembering that she had left her friends waiting on the other side, she had told Inuyasha, who had personally taken her to the well. Luna had also tagged along, simply because she had an idea that she wanted to test.

"Humans... They're really slow, aren't they?"

Inuyasha nodded as he grabbed Kagome's arm and lifted her up.

"Hey!"

"Well, it's true!" Luna stood still, calmly looking at her nails as if she had spoken an obvious truth.

"Hey, there they are!" A short fox demon scurried over to Kagome, hugging her as if he hadn't seen her in a year.

"Hi, Shippo." Kagome smiled as she petted the tiny fox demon. "Where's Miroku and Sango?"

"At the village." A slap could be heard from the direction of the small village.

"Typical..." Kagome muttered under her breath as she heard the sound.

"How is he not dead yet? From what I've seen, humans can't take too much head trauma..."

"Because he's got a thick skull." Shippo glanced at the half-demon girl. "Hey, where's Sesshomaru? And Rin?"

"Back at my apartment. I left them there because a large group of people running through town would be a lot more noticeable than just two... with one person on one of the runner's back..."

"Is that really uncommon?"

"I'm afraid so..." Luna appeared quite depressed as she spoke. "There aren't many demons in the future... There's so few that most of them don't even know we exist, and those that do try to kill us..."

Shippo blinked in surprise. It was obvious that he had thought Kagome's time was safe, but this contradicted his beliefs. "Do they kill humans too?"

"Sometimes. If they get in the way, but don't worry. My group has got everything under control." Luna smiled. "Believe it or not, it's still safer than being here." Luna gasped as she felt an odd aura in in the air.

"Is something wrong?"

"Can you guys not feel that? It feels like-" Luna was cut off as the ground began to shake. Screaming villagers ran in all directions. Kagome was knocked off of the side of the well. Inuyasha had face-planted in the dirt. Luna was wobbling, barely balanced on one foot.

After several minutes, the ground had stopped shaking. Luna, who had held her balance despite the earthquake, fell from her awkward balancing position. "What the hell was that?"

"That's what we were about to ask..." A young monk, stepped out from behind one of the trees. A female demon slayer followed him, appearing ready to attack anything that threatened.

"Well... there was an earthquake. That's all we know, Miroku."

"I feel like something's calling me..." Luna stared off into the distance for a moment before jumping up and dashing towards something that no one else could see.

"Luna!" The group raced after her, slowing down as they saw where she had stopped. There was a cave with ancient writing on it, and Luna had fallen to her knees in front of it, hands on her knees, staring blankly into the darkness.

"L-Luna? Are you alright?" Kagome knelt beside the half-demon girl, trying to hide the fact that she was creeped out by Luna's blank stare.

"I-I hear them... calling... big brother... I hear you!" Luna bolted into the cave, tears pouring down her cheeks.

The group, sensing danger, followed her quickly into the cavern. Down they went, deeper and deeper into the depths, the air growing colder and colder still, until they were convinced that they were going to freeze down there. Then, there was light. Dim at first, but warming the cave as if someone had brought a torch with them. The light grew brighter and brighter, until they came out into a large chamber with the walls covered in ancient writing. There, in the center, was Luna, collapsed on the floor and crying as if she had lost everything. Almost unnoticeable, yet quite obvious, was a demon with hair that appeared to desperately need shampoo. In his hands were two stones, one red as fire, the other as white as fresh snow. "I see your friends have come to join you... Too bad that you won't get to see the rise of a new empire... One risen from the dust you were born upon, Lunari Rosaria Feld. The same empire that your parents gave their lives to destroy... With these two dragoon spirits, I can bring back the old ways."

"Naraku!" Inuyasha yelled, "What are you muttering about?"

"Why, Inuyasha, I thought you'd never ask..." The demon grinned wickedly. "You see, there was once a vast empire, ruled by an honorable man named Melbu Frahma-"

"He was not honorable! He even killed his own people just to watch something die!"

"Shut up! Anyway, his empire was brought down by the seven dragoons of legend. Five died during the battle. One became the 'Black Monster' and began destroying entire villages when the moon turned red. The final one became possessed by Melbu. Melbu tried to bring peace to the world by unleashing the world's strongest monster and making it do his bidding, but the two living dragoons, along with five replacements, killed the beast and ripped its soul in half, which killed the two original dragoons. I seek to bring this peace-maker back."

"Peace-maker? He sought to destroy the world! He couldn't control the other creatures, so he wanted to destroy everything! You make it sound as if he's a saint!"

"Through blood comes change, Lunari.

"Stop calling me that!" Luna growled viciously. "That's my Serdian name, and I'll not have it defiled by people such as you!"

Naraku only tilted his head and chuckled at the girl. The stones started to glow brightly. On the floor, red and white lights spread out, tracing the ancient lines. The lines looped and swirled, sometimes meeting at intersections, other times jumping to other areas not yet touched by light.

Luna could only stagger backwards, attempting to get out of the circle where the lights were. As she made it out, the border of the circle lit up brightly, nearly blinding the group. A roar could be heard, and two large dragon heads emerged from the lit up pattern on the ground.

Evil laughter could be heard above the roars. "Like my new pets?"

'Save us...' The words that no one else but Luna could hear echoed in her mind. 'Save us, Luna...' The voice was that of her half-brother. She knew what this chamber was... his burial tomb. She had made this for him long ago. She had even dug up his wife's grave so that she could place the wife's bones with his. That was the reason for the stones being here. Because _she _put them here. That was why Naraku had defiled their graves. To get the dragoon spirits from them. This was why Luna had to do something. And she did.

Shadows covered Luna's body and face, enveloping her in a solid ball of darkness with bits of green, blue, and violet glowing on the outside. The ball shrank before exploding, damaging nothing as Luna appeared again, in dark violet armor with large dragon wings spread wide. The dragons roared as they saw her, but Luna did not flinch. She could not, or else they would kill everyone in the tomb. 'I have to destroy the dragons... but how? If I take down the red, then the white will get me, but if I get the white, the red will kill me...'

'Look for the weak points...' A female voice echoed. Her half-brother's wife. 'I know you can find them...'

'Weak points? Lovely...'

Inuyasha charged forward, intent on killing the white one first.

"Inuyasha, you idiot!" Luna flapped her wings and charged at the red one, her speed outpacing Inuyasha's. Steel met scales as the dragon turned to face its attacker. She could feel the white dragon charging its light beam and knew there were only seconds left...

Blood splattered as a golden light sliced the head off of the white dragon. As Luna stared in disbelief, the red dragon caught her arm and shook her as a dog would shake a toy. Expletives flew from Luna as she was turned into a living ragdoll. Still attacking, Luna slashed her blade. Miss. A sharp crack as Luna split a few of the scales. Miss again. Yet another miss. The sound of bricks crumbling as Luna kicked at the split scales, knocking them off. A spraying sound as her blade went into the weakened spot in the dragon's scales. The dragon tossed her as it let out a dying roar, a mix between the roar of a lion and a screech of a dying demon. The sound hurt Luna's ears as she tumbled downward.

Brightly glowing arrows hit Naraku in the arm as a large boomerang tore it off, causing the two stones in his hand to fall to the ground, where Miroku swiftly scooped them up.

"Damn... This isn't the end of this, you pests!" Naraku fled, teleporting himself to avoid more attacks.

As Miroku returned the dragoon spirits to Luna, he noticed something different in the air, and it wasn't just the 'dead dragon' smell. "Luna... are the spirits at peace now? It seems calmer in here..."

"Almost. They have one last task for me, however." Luna turned to Inuyasha and Kagome. "Both of you, hold out your hands."

As they obeyed, Luna placed one stone in each hand and watched carefully. Nothing happened. "Odd... Unless..." She took the stones from them and switched them out, giving Inuyasha the red stone and Kagome recieving the white. A red and white glow lit up the room, each color coming from the matching stone. "They knew it all along... It seems that this was destined to happen..." Luna giggled a bit. "Still can't believe that you two are the new dragoons..."

"Is that what you are?"

"Yes. By the way..." Luna paused to get everyone's attention. "No one tell Sesshomaru what happened... I don't want him to know how old I am, and this is a clear indicator..."

Authoress: Great news! Got four chapters for you people!

Petal: *Whimpers*

Authoress: Don't tell me you have to pee again...

Petal: *barks*

Authoress: ugh... Sayonara, everyone. *Takes the dog outside*


	18. Chapter 18

Rin, of course, was waiting for the group when they returned, ready with numerous questions. Makoto was half-on half-off the couch, lazily rolling a ball he had made out of some leather and a large pile of ash. Luna glanced at both of them and knew she was about to play 'twenty questions'... only, she knew there would probably be more than just the twenty advertised. "Yes?"

"Where'd you go?"

"To go get Shippo, Sango, and Miroku."

"Why'd that take so long?"

"Traffic." Luna forced herself to rely on whatever came to mind first that wasn't about the actual events of that evening. She hated to do that, but Rin's questioning was becoming more like gunfire, and twice as dangerous.

"Why's your arm bloody?"

"Got in a fight." Luna had to admit that Rin was getting good with quick observations. That was a skill useful to anyone, especially a questioner. 'Or a warrioress...' Luna had to shove that thought away as the next round of questions began.

"With who?"

"It's _whom, _Rin." The grammar correction gave Luna a chance to think out her answer.

"Whatever. Still."

"A hunter."

"Just one?"

"Working alone. I'm surprised that Inuyasha and I didn't see him before he tried to attack."

This answer seemed to satisfy Rin, however, now Makoto was glancing up at Luna expectantly.

"Yes, Makoto?"

"When's class?"

"Which class?"

"History. Rin wanted to know the history of demons, and you know my current grade."

Luna wanted to facepalm. He had been her only student, and she couldn't keep his attention long enough to drop a penny. "Well, I have nothing much to do... get some paper and pens, enough for three students, and I'll teach."

As Makoto rushed to find some paper and pens, Luna calmly bandaged her arm. She had refused treatment due to needing to hurry back. Now, she had to multi-task as she grabbed one of the chalkboards that a nearby school had thrown out, while still bandaging her wounds. At least Kagome was nice enough to get one of the pouches of chalk for her.

Her 'class' as she called it, was already assembled. Sighing to herself, she took a piece of chalk from the pouch. "Where to begin? ...Maybe Demonic History 101? Yes, I think that will work. Is my class ready?"

"Yep." A not-so-excited Makoto replied. "Maybe this time I'll pass..."

Luna took a deep breath, knowing that this was a long lesson. "In the beginning, radiation altered proteins in the water, causing life to form." She drew a cell on the board. "From these bacteria cells came all life. Plants sprang up 156 million years B.S.E." She drew a leaf near the cell and wrote the date on the board. "Aquatic life came in about 143 million years B.S.E." A fish joined the leaf on the board. "Land life evolved from that, and this is where our story begins."

Rin glanced at Makoto, who was scribbling the notes onto his paper. 'Should I do that too? Guess I should...' She rushed to copy the drawings and dates.

"When land creatures first became sentient, there were two species: humans and winglies. Winglies were creatures with silver hair and a natural talent for magic. They were called 'winglies' because all of them could use their magic to make glowing wings. It was their signature trait. Humans, well, were humans. Still the same as they were back then. Winglies and humans both segregated the unusual, which, over time, led to species such as the gigantos and minitos. It was also frowned upon for winglies and humans to mix, but, of course, love knows no bounds. When they were caught, which was often, they were shunned from their societies. Over time, this selective breeding of sorts created a whole new species: the demon race."

Gasps of wonder seemed to across the room as Luna realized she had an audience. "Very early demons could hardly be called that, by today's standards. There were no real traits to mark them. They were human-like with magic abilities. While the species was developing, however, trouble was brewing. The winglies had discovered the strongest source of magic in the world, and were manipulating it. They established five floating cities, where every point in everyone's lives was dictated. At the helm was a man named Melbu Frahma, and he was a cruel dictator. He and his royal guard lived in Kadessa, the capitol city, and he ruled over the entire world with an iron fist. Every day, his guards would kidnap people and force them to fight to the death against creatures that they stood no chance against. Beyond that, there was the birth city, Deningrad, the death city, Mayfil, the law city, Zenebatos, and the magic city, Aglis. Lives were governed from birth to death and all points inbetween. This was true for all species.

In the year 4 B.S.E., a faction of demons grew tired of Melbu's dictatorship. They had learned an ancient secret from none other than Melbu's own sister, Charle. She had told them of a secret power sealed within dragons of every element. This power could overthrow the government, and since Charle disapproved of her brother's cruelty, she happily aided the rebels. At the heart of this were two demons... misfits of their own species due to their lineage. Zieg Feld, the figurehead leader, claimed the power of the most fierce of all the fire dragons. Rose Tiernihara, the decision-maker and Zieg's mate, took down the slyest of all the darkness dragons, gaining its power. They were the first dragoons, which were people that could harness the power of the dragons and use it without being consumed by the power. Together, they found those strong enough to take the dragons' powers, one of each element, and led the attack. The demons helped the efforts by carrying gigantos to the battlesites. Humans shot arrows and brought down some of the turrets. Minitos climbed in through windows and supplied ammo. It was anarchy.

Then, on Day 1 B.S.E., Kadessa fell, but so did almost all of the dragoons. Five died and two disappeared from sight. It was with this sobering thought in mind that the victors decided that three countries were to be born, and there would never be war between them again. The three countries were Serdio, Tiberoa, and Mille Seseau. Dates are counted in Serdian Era years and Before Serdian Era years only because they took history as important long before the others did."

"Wow..." Rin's eyes were wide with amazement. "You must be really old then, if you remember so much..."

Luna facepalmed from embarrassment. 'Wait until she finds out that Rose is your mom... Ok, that's a thought I didn't need...' "I'm not that old. I learned this from people who had learned this from people who were in this."

"Still makes you old..." Shippo rolled his eyes. 'Honestly, are all adults this stupid?'

"I will admit, older than most, but that means you have to respect me." Luna grinned. "Over 11,000 years passed, and the dragoons faded into legend, and legend faded into myth as time went on. More pressing issues were found. Every 108 years, the moon would turn red and some unfortunate village would be destroyed. That was considered more important. But far worse was in store. A man was helping Melbu release his source of power. Melbu had him thinking that the power could bring peace and prosperity to the world, but Melbu wanted it for other reasons. The dragoons rose again, led once again by a fire dragoon and a mysterious woman named Rose. Melbu had succeeded in freeing the power source, but not in using it for his own goals. The dragoons destroyed it, Rose and her mate staying behind to rip its soul in half, even though they knew it would kill them. One half was sealed inside 'a vessel that can never be broken', but the other got loose and still might circle the world to this day. These are the most important stories in demonic history. There are lesser ones, such as Krina the silent killer, who single-handedly caused the plague in Europe, or Teshirrou Sekitachov, who was known to humans as King Albert, but these stories were truely minor in demon history. There was also the rise of the hunters, but I'll cover that another time. That concludes our lessons for today." Luna smiled as everyone finished writing down her notes. "Any questions?"


	19. Chapter 19

After the lesson, Luna flopped onto the couch with exhaustion. Never before had she managed to fit so much into a single lesson. Part of her wanted to scream that she had lied about that being the most important part of demonic history, yet that was the only part she hadn't been in. The only part she was not involved with in some way, she knew, was the only part safe enough to reveal to everyone. She was old. She knew she was old, but she refused to act her age. Even by demon standards, she should have been aging. But she wasn't, and this was her advantage. 'I almost feel bad about lying through my teeth... but, would Sesshomaru love someone over 16 times his age? I doubt it.'

Sesshomaru had been watching the lesson carefully and had noticed how she spoke, with such detail that signaled that she couldn't have been far from being in it herself. Slowly, he made his way over to the half-demon girl, attempting to prepare himself for everything.

"Hi, Sesshomaru-sama. Am I in your way?"

"No, I wanted to talk to you."

"Famous last words..." Luna rolled over onto her side, grinning mischieviously. "Now, what about?"

"How old are you exactly?" He was not prepared for the slap he received, which knocked him over.

"How rude! You don't just ask a woman her age!" Luna crossed her arms in annoyance. "And I'd rather not say."

Sesshomaru sat up, rubbing his face. "Just wanted to know..."

"Well, it was rude to ask."

"Sorry..."

Luna quietly got up and went to her room, shutting the door as she went.

Sesshomaru sighed. "Seems like there's never a day where I don't piss her off..."

"Well, maybe you should try the passive approach." Kagome sat down where Luna had been.

"Passive?"

"Yes. Maybe not ask her personal things."

"Luna reveals things only when she feels safe enough to reveal them. If she's hesitant to tell you something, it's because she isn't comfortable enough with you yet. Back down, Fido. She'll come to you." Zakura grinned, leaning across the back of the couch.

"Um... Zakura?"

"Yes, Kagome?"

"Why do you have your chin on my shoulder?"

"Personal space issues?"

"A little..."

"There is no such thing as personal space in here. You'll have to get used to it. Also, no such thing as privacy or common decency." Zakura giggled.

Sesshomaru blinked before noticing something. "You're naked, aren't you?"

"Who, me? I'm in a towel."

"Would you please put some clothes on?"

"Like I said, no such thing as common decency."

A loud slap caught their attention. Miroku was on the floor with a large handprint on his face. "Sango! I can't help it!"

"Pervert."

Zakura smiled. "These are my kind of people!"


	20. Chapter 20

Luna sighed as she took off her choker and held it up to the light. 'It's been so long... So many years since those days... and yet if Naraku succeeds...' A tear slid down her cheek. 'Those days will return, but the heroes won't... My mother won't...' More tears joined the first, and Luna was forced to wipe her eyes. She felt an odd shift in the air, as if there was a new aura in the room. It felt familiar, though its presence made her want to cry more. "Mother, I know you're over there..."

"No, I'm not."

"You're behind the curtain. I see it moving and the windows are closed."

"Good observation." The figure slid out from behind the curtain calmly. "A little more and you could catch anything."

Luna glanced at the figure, a near replica of herself. "Mom, do you think I'm doing the right thing?"

"...not right now... You're sitting there. There are dragoons in need of their dragoon spirits, and you're being lazy."

"Well, we can't look all over the Earth for them..."

"No. I don't expect you to... That would take too long."

"So, why are you here anyway? I thought you and dad were happy over there in the afterlife..."

"We are... kinda. But it's difficult... being the bearers of bad news and watching the world end... So I decided to visit you."

"If you're about to tell me to stick my head in a bee hive, I'll have you know it took us a week to get all of the bees out of my ears."

"That was the medicine, sweetie. I most certainly didn't tell you to do that."

"Well, bearer of bad news, spill it. What's going wrong and how can I screw this up?"

"Melbu will be returning... There's no way to stop that... and he will be using the Moon Child to destroy the world..."

Luna's eyes grew wide with shock. "B-but I wouldn't destroy the world! How could he use me to do that?"

"I see Charle explained your name... Fortunately, this is one thing we can control. The two halves are in this apartment. Opposites of one another, yet exactly the same. Both tortured by fate to the point of breaking, yet too resilient to fall. I believe you know who I speak of."

"Kagome?"

"No."

Luna paused. "Sesshomaru?"

"No... Getting closer..."

"I..."

"Yes?"

"Izuru?"

Luna's mother facepalmed. "You idiot! Inuyasha is the other half!"

"Well I'm sorry! I suck at puzzles! ...So, why do I need to know this?"

"The two halves must be kept separate. No making out with him."

"Ew... Is his older brother safe?"

"Yes."

"Whoohoo!" Luna grinned as she cheered.

Luna's mother sighed. "And when you get to Mayfil, since you will be going there before too long, sing that song I used to sing to you as a lullaby. It will help the former dragoons find you. I need to be going back. Sorry I couldn't stay longer..."

"It's alright, mom, I understand." Tears filled Luna's eyes again, despite her attempts to force them back.

Luna's mother hugged her, careful not to fall through her tangible daughter. Looking up, she smiled. "You're just like a younger me, you know that?"

Luna giggled. "Maybe that will make a difference."

Luna's mother paused before whispering, "It just might..."

As Luna blinked, her mother's ghost faded from view and her aura disappeared. She almost could hear the lullaby in the air, and had to sing along with it. As she started to, however, Sesshomaru, Miroku, Sango, Inuyasha, Kagome, Rin, and Zakura walked in. The lullaby faded. "Why are you guys in here?"

"We thought you just told us to come in here..."

"Well, it looked like you, anyway."

'Mom...' As the thought appeared in her head, Luna's mother faded into view.

After reappearing, she spoke. "I did. Your fates are intertwined with my daugher's, so I felt that maybe dragging you all in here might help." Turning to Luna, she added. "I told you the new dragoons were here... And most of them still need their dragoon spirits."

Luna wanted to facepalm. "Then why did you drag them in here?"

"I wanted you to tell them the truth about how old you are, who you really are. They deserve to know, since they're being pulled down the river of fate with you."

"This again?"

"Yes. This again. And I want us to both sing that lullaby. And you need to use your illusion spells on the walls. I want them to see what our home was like back then. They'll need this later."

"If you insist..."

"I do."

"...fine... Shut the door."

The door clicked shut right after she said the command. Everyone was staring at her with interest. Luna could feel herself getting nervous as she began. "I had a dream that I could fly

I can feel each moment as time goes by

We'd never be too far away,

You would always be here,

I heard you say "

The walls turned black at first, then lit up with scenes of the places she had seen. People moved in the images as if they were real. Birds flew overhead. They could almost feel the breeze that moved the branches and flower petals. Silver-haired people went about their business, not seeing the viewers of this scene.

"I never thought...

Thought that it would be our last goodbye"

Luna's mother echoed her. "our last goodbye."

"I still can dream

That one day love will fall out from the sky"

The scene changed, and they were in the middle of a village with far fewer flowers. The villagers were partially tanned and had darker hair. One person that stood out was a man in bright red armor. He was sharpening his sword outside of a small shack. He glanced up and waved, and everyone was convinced that he was waving at them, so they waved back.

"Do you still remember all the time that has gone by?"

Do you still believe that love can fall out from the sky?"

The scene changed again, showing a palace. A man in a green cape and a girl in bright blue were walking in front of the audience. As they noticed the walls moving past them, they realized that these were Luna's memories of visiting these places. The girl turned around to face the audience and spoke, though the words were too quiet to be heard due to Luna's singing. Whatever she had said, she seemed happy about it, because she smiled and pranced ahead of the man in the cape, who just shook his head at the girl's antics.

"If from where you're standing, you can see the sky above

I'll be waiting for you, if you still believe in love"

The scene changed for a third time, and the audience saw the remains of what appeared to be an ancient kingdom. Everyone except for Sesshomaru and Rin noticed the similarities between the writing on the walls and the writing they had seen in the tomb. They could almost feel the remains of the great magic that had been used. Luna heard a few of them gasp at the odd sensation. It had been the only thing she took notice of, because she felt herself going into a trance, and she couldn't stop herself.

"Find a way to bring back yesterday

Find a way to love

I hope we stay

When tomorrow becomes today

Love will find a way."

The scene changed yet again, and they were inside a cavern. Lights glimmered from what appeared to be rosebuds. Close examination revealed that they were crystal flowers. Luna's mother gasped. 'She isn't supposed to remember that... unless...' She shifted forward a bit and had to bite her lip at what she saw. Luna's eyes were red and lime green, and she was slumped over like a doll that had been propped up on a wall. Yet she continued to sing, despite her voice now having an ethereal echo to it.

"I'll be waiting for you, in my heart you are the one

If I cannot find you, I will look up to the sun.

If from where you're standing, you can see the sky above

I'll be waiting for you, if you still believe in love."

The scene changed for the final time, showing a gigantic palace made of crystal. The entire group, excluding Luna and her mother, gasped at the sight.

"Do you still remember all the time that has gone by?

Do you still believe that love can fall out from the sky?

If from where you're standing, you can see the sky above

I'll be waiting for you, if you still believe in love"

The walls returned to normal and so did Luna's eyes. She sat up as if nothing unusual had happened.

"That was... amazing." Rin smiled at Luna.

"I didn't even know they had things like that in the past... The technology to build that has only existed in the last century or so..." Kagome trailed off as she met Luna's gaze. "Did I say something wrong?"

Luna sighed. "No... I figured that this wouldn't work... They didn't teach you this... That was Serdio, Mille Seseau, and Tiberoa not long after my birth."

"But you're not... You can't be that old!" Sesshomaru stared at Luna as if she had sprouted a second head.

"I'm sixteen..."

"Then how-"

"...times your age." Luna paused to let this sink in. "My choker was once my mother's. It's called an 'immortality choker' and it lets me stay nearly the same age for a very long time. It slows down my time, but not the world's. In the time since I put it on, I've only honestly aged two years, though thousands more have passed. My mother is Rose. I believe you already know her story."

More gasps followed this news. Almost everyone was shocked to know that Luna's mother was one of the legendary dragoons. Rin, however, was not shocked. She had been suspecting that Rose was Luna's mother since she had stepped into the room. They were too similar to not be related.

"So... about this... dragoon... thing... We're all supposed to be them?" Miroku looked slightly fearful of the answer to his question.

"Just those in this room." Rose replied.

"Which one will I be?" Sango spoke up.

"Depends on if you live long enough to find the dragoon spirit... the one that picks you, of course. I only had a glimpse of fate's pattern, so I couldn't get specifics... Luna, I believe you can handle the rest. I need to get back to your father... He's probably rallied the entire afterlife to come and kill the moon spirit-" Rose stopped herself too late. "Anyway..." She laughed nervously. "I've got to go. I love you, Luna." Rose disappeared quickly, leaving Luna wide-eyed.

'He wants to kill me too?'

Authoress: *comes back inside with the dog, sits down at the computer*

Petal: *jumps onto Luna's lap*

Authoress: Now, how am I supposed to upload this? *tries working around the dog*

Petal: *barks*

Authoress: I promised them four chapters, and I'm not going back on that.

Petal: *tries to get the authoress to pet her*

Authoress: *puts the dog on the bed, hurries back to the computer and uploads the chapter* There. Not even a canine will stop me from updating.

Petal: *growls*

Authoress: Sayonara, everyone. Gotta tend to my dog.


	21. Chapter 21

Luna glanced at each person in the room, then glanced at her choker, which was still in her hand. "We have a good group then... considering what we face."

"But what do we face? Naraku? Melbu? Melbu's pet?"

Luna glared at Inuyasha with a fierceness unmatched by anyone else he had ever met. "You wouldn't call it his 'pet' if you knew what it was... who it is..." Luna hesitated, trying to decide how to word it. "...who they are."

"They? Again with the secrets? You suck at hiding them... might as well tell us."

"As you know, the monster that Melbu was attempting to destroy the world with was torn in half..."

"Get on with it..."

"We're the halves, you baka!" Luna winced at how loud she shouted, but she was too angry to say that she regretted it. Calmly, she added, "The halves are complete opposites, yet the same. I know for a fact that I'm one, so the other would have to be the opposite of me."

"Well, Kagome acts a lot calmer and is more open about things than you..." Miroku spoke up.

"But we share too many similarities. We're female, have black hair, like boys with demonic blood. Too similar to be opposites."

"What about you and Sesshomaru?" Sango glanced from Luna to the demon in question and back.

"Personal interests too similar. Both of us enjoy blood and carnage. Both like music. Both use similar fighting styles."

"So, it is me then..."

"I don't really know of any similarities between us, but the differences are obvious. Silver hair against black. Golden eyes compared to silver-blue. Preference for red clothes as opposed to blue. Young versus old. Likes humans rather than demons. No markings..." Luna slid her sleeve up and revealed her arm, which was a pale peach color marked with black and plum tendrils, curling and swirling only to disappear under the clothes she wore. "And you're tall male, whereas I'm quite obviously a short female. The differences are there. And I bet you're stronger than the average demon too, aren't you?"

"He is. He's taken down a dragon by himself..." Kagome glanced at him and smiled.

"So what if I am?"

"You're going to need that." Luna put her choker back on. "Melbu will probably try to use us to destroy the world..."

"So... chaos and anarchy?" Inuyasha glanced at the girl on the bed, grinning.

"Business as usual." Luna glanced up at him, also grinning. "And don't even think of boasting. We want to lay low until I know for sure what's going on. Naraku has yet to reincarnate Melbu, so we all need to prepare."

Slowly, as everyone reasoned it out in their heads, they realized that she made sense. They had no idea of what to expect from them, but Luna did.

Luna, however, felt her confidence draining away as the silence dragged on. It was everything she could do to stop herself from hiding.

"You'll need to help us know what we're up against..."

Luna jumped. The silence had been so long that she had thought they weren't going to reply. "Sure."

"Could you give me some time alone with her?" Sesshomaru turned to everyone as he spoke. "We can't start tonight anyway. It's past midnight." Everyone calmly left the room, leaving Sesshomaru with Luna. "You could have just told me how old you were... it doesn't freak me out."

"Well, it seems like it would, since I'm old enough to be your ancestor..."

"But you don't look it. If you did, I might've been a little worried."

"Shallow, aren't we?" Luna giggled a bit.

"Not entirely. I never said what I would have been worried about... and no, it isn't _that..."_

"I remember back when you used to have those kind of troubles... You were so cute when you did that..."

"You're the only girl that wasn't disgusted about that..."

"I took it as a compliment... Then again, I actually knew why you were doing that, so of course I'd take it as a compliment." Luna smiled as she wrapped her arms around her abdomen and tried to make the movement unnoticeable. She failed, however.

"Something wrong?"

"...no..." 'Oh, please not now... Not this...'

Sesshomaru sniffed. The scent of blood caught his attention. "Um... do you want me to leave or..."

"Whatever you feel like doing..." Luna tried to suppress the pain sprouting from her abdomen as she spoke, managing to get her voice a little bit lower than a squeak.

Sesshomaru glanced at the sheets, then back to Luna. "I'd better step out then..." Without another word, he rushed out the door, closing and locking it behind him.

Luna simply sighed as she watched him retreat. Cautiously, she threw the blankets over herself and curled up.

Sesshomaru felt torn. Part of him wanted to stay with her, but the other half knew it was safer for both of them if he wasn't in the room. Without paying attention, he found himself on the couch... or, rather, his upper half was on the couch. His lower half was up in the air.

"I always knew boys thought with that brain, but this is getting a bit ridiculous..." Zakura grabbed his foot and pushed it, making him roll off of the couch. "Maybe next time watch where you're going?"

Sesshomaru sighed. He felt like kicking himself for everything he had messed up.

"What's troublin' ya, woofster? Ran out of bark?"

"Luna's in heat..."

"And you're out here emo-ing up my floor? Man the hell up and get your ass in there, fluffy! You know as well as I do that she's miserable... And I can tell your track record from your scent... it's non-existant. Don't worry. That bitch ain't fragile."

"And here you are, calling your sister a bitch..."

"Yeah. She calls herself a bitch. Now get in there, before _I _throw you in."

Sesshomaru decided that Zakura probably would hold up that promise, so he got up and approached the door.

"I'm not leaving until that door locks with you on the inside."

"I know..." Sesshomaru took a deep breath as he unlocked the door. 'Please, Luna, don't be angry...'

Authoress: I'm back... with five chapters!

Audience member: *faints*

Authoress: Um... ok then... See you when I get done posting... Someone call the ambulance!


	22. Chapter 22

As Sesshomaru woke up the next morning, he noticed something warm that smelled like lavender. He also became aware that this lavender-scented thing was clinging to him as if its life depended on it. He felt no need to question what the warm creature was. He knew it was Luna, who was still asleep. In the morning light, he noticed a large bruise on her neck, and in the center was a bite mark. 'I should be gentler... That bruise looks terrible... At least the mark will stay on, though... I hope.'

Luna blinked awake slowly, fearful she had only dreamed of last night's events. As her eyes opened, she noticed that Sesshomaru was holding her. 'I didn't dream it... That means we...' A slight giggle escaped her.

"And what are you giggling about, Miss Screeches-So-Loud-She-Breaks-Windows?"

"Nothing, Mr. Please-Don't-Kill-Me-I'm-Only-Trying-To-Help. I do believe that became your catch phrase..." Luna giggled a little more. "Are you scared of the chihuahua, Mr. Great Dane? Or are you Mr. Japanese Spaniel?"

"Chihuahua? You're a bigger dog than that!"

"Are you calling me a bitch?"

"Only because you call yourself one..."

"True... but I'm short and have pointy ears. Therefore, I am chihuahua, hear me... make that pathetically high-pitched barking noise."

Sesshomaru couldn't hold back a chuckle.

"What's so funny?"

"I just got a picture of you as a chihuahua..." He smiled as he thought of it again. "You'd be a little puffball. A little, yapping puffball."

"I'll show you 'puffball'!" Luna tackled him, knocking him onto the pillows that had fallen off of the bed. To his surprise, the human-like girl who had knocked him down had been replaced by a big black puff of fur with bright silver-blue eyes and an extremely fluffy tail. "Arf!" The tail swished about, making its own sound effects as it fanned the air around.

"Wow... You really are a little puffball..." Sesshomaru chuckled again as Luna decided to flop down on his chest. "I bet you're mostly fur..." One over-sized paw hit him in the face, covering his mouth.

Luna changed back to normal before uncovering his mouth. "Try not to say anything about it... I don't want everyone to call me 'Fluffers'... I only let Zakura call me that because I can call her 'Floppers'." Luna snuggled closer to Sesshomaru. "...You're warm, you know that?"

"I could say the same for you-" A crash silenced him. Both Luna and Sesshomaru were still as they listened carefully. Panicked footsteps and the clatter of an all-out brawl met their ears. Rushing, Luna and Sesshomaru threw on whatever clothes they could get to first and raced out, swords in hand and ready for use.

Luna gasped at what was causing the clamor. A man with short silver hair had managed to wipe out almost everyone in the living room, though that wasn't what had caused her reaction. Instead, it was because he was so familiar. "Lloyd..."

"So you do remember me? Ah, well, that's good. I suppose you remember that we're mates, too, right?"

"_Were,_ Lloyd. _Were._"

"Last I checked, the woman has no say in a relationship when it's a cross-species one... Oh well, I'll have fun punishing you for this..." He drew his blade swiftly, moving fluidly as he charged toward Luna.

Luna, knowing that no one else could come close to the speed in which he moved, lunged towards him, a blur to all that were watching.

Sesshomaru could only watch as a silver blur met a black one, both flying backwards before charging again. As they swirled in a whirlwind of clinking metal and blood, he became unable to tell where one ended and the other began. Blood splattered on the ground beside him and he knew whose it was before the scent had even reached him.

The two fighters slid away from each other, both bleeding heavily from several cuts, panting, and glaring at one another as if they could ignite the other's head telepathically. Sesshomaru took the opportunity to jump inbetween them with his sword pointed at Lloyd. "She is not yours. She is mine. Leave her alone or else."

"What are you going to do, slowpoke? I'll have you cut into mincemeat before you can blink!" Lloyd charged towards Sesshomaru with the light of insanity in his eyes and a large grin on his face. But Sesshomaru couldn't see it. Because in that same instant, Luna had pushed herself between them and was transforming into her dragoon form. He staggered backwards when he saw the large dragon wings and ancient armor.

Crashing into Lloyd, she tore at him, sending sprays of blood everywhere.

"You think you're the only one who can do that?" Lloyd held up a small gray stone, allowing it to glow and the light to consume him. When the light faded, a seven-winged dragoon without color stood in front of Luna. "Try besting the king of dragons, bitch." He began to focus his energy into the cannon attached to his arm.

Luna's eyes widened when she realized what he was about to do. She quickly pulled as much energy as she could into a single point and charged, with the point of energy at the tip of her blade.

Lights began to appear near the cannon. Everyone in the room could feel the impending doom that the cannon would bring.

Luna stabbed her blade into the cannon, releasing the energy which she had stored in the tip. Lloyd's eyes shot open and he fell, stunned.

"Hey, Lloyd, come on. We have to summon your master, remember?" Naraku poked his head in the window. "Not too busy dying, are you?"

"S-shut up..." Lloyd dragged himself to the window. Glancing back, he grinned at Luna. "Until next time, my love."

As they left, Luna transformed back into herself and fell to her knees. The room was spinning, but her mind was unconcerned with that. She felt extremely weak and wanted to pass out, but that wasn't important to her either. 'Why? Why is he still alive?' Tears were falling.

"Luna? Luna!" Sesshomaru waved his arm in front of Luna, trying to shake her from her trance.

Instead of replying, Luna fell over and curled up. In her mind, no one was talking to her. They didn't even exist. 'He's alive... But I killed him... But he fought me... and that wasn't a poltergeist... Why? Why him?' The room was spinning faster than ever, and it was mere seconds before Luna was unconscious.

In her dream, she was in the forest, fighting Lloyd. Nearby, a little girl squeaked and hid. She knew that squeak. 'Lita... forgive me for the violence I'm about to show...' Luna slashed at Lloyd, cutting his thigh as he tried to jump back.

"So, you want extra punishment today, pet? I'll give the girl hers, then I'll give you an extra dose for getting in the way!"

Her shoulder stung, but Luna forced the pain out of her mind as she blocked his path. "You will not hurt her, Lloyd. Kill me if you wish, but spare her. She did nothing wrong."

"Look at you, talking as if you have negotiating power... I'll make you a deal. Get out of my way and let me punish her, and I won't punish you anymore today."

"You will not harm her-" Luna gasped as he rushed around her, swinging his weapon, a belt, in the air. With a loud slap, the belt struck Lita, leaving a large red gash in her leg. The little girl screamed in pain, falling to the ground.

Luna felt her anger burning her alive. Her vision was red. She could feel her fangs growing and her senses clouding. She couldn't control her actions. As she felt blood on her hands, panic set in. Struggling, she managed to regain control, bit by bit. 'Please don't let that have been her...'

Slowly, her vision returned, and she saw the girl staring at her, petrified with fear. With good reason, too, as Luna saw her reflection in Lita's eyes. Luna had jagged violet stripes on her face and fangs so long that they stuck out from her upper lip. She was covered in blood, and as her sense of smell returned, she figured out whose it was. Glancing around, she saw trees that had been destroyed and blood everywhere. In the center of the clearing was a pool of blood surrounding a body. 'This can't be good...' As she examined the body, she recognized the face. It was Lloyd, who had been nearly slashed up beyond recognition while Luna was not in control. 'I-I killed him... Does this mean... Am I... free?'

"Luna, are we safe?" Lita had limped into the blood puddle and was right beside Luna.

"Yes, Lita, we're safe."

Something was pulling at Luna, as if something was wrong. She felt as if she was being dragged. 'Dragged by what?'

She awoke to several people surrounding her, some working on her, others working on those that were helping her. Golden eyes, filled with worry, stared into hers. "Are you ok?"

"I... I don't know..." Luna bit her lip as someone pulled the gauze on her arm too tight. "I just don't know..."


	23. Chapter 23

A few weeks had passed since the attack, and Luna was no longer wrapped in gauze. Still, she seemed rather distant, as if lost in her memories. She would barely speak. If she did speak, it was only a word or two, silently. Sesshomaru often stood in the doorway, watching over her, wishing there was something he could do. Luna never seemed to notice anyone's presence except for his. Holding the tray with her breakfast in his hand, he decided to interrupt her stroll down memory lane. "Luna? I have breakfast..." He set the tray on her lap and sat next to her. "You need to eat."

"Ok..." The girl picked at her roasted pigeon. Sesshomaru knew she was a picky-eater, but this was getting too severe. She was becoming thinner and weaker.

"Luna, if there's something wrong, you can tell me..."

"Maybe I can't..."

Sesshomaru blinked. In this one sentence, she said more than she had since Lloyd attacked. "Of course you can... I'm your mate, remember?"

Luna sighed. 'Sometimes, I wish I couldn't remember much of anything... but my luck, I forget everything that was good...' Her memories flashed back to her days with Lloyd. She remembered following him around like a servant, obeying every command she could, being beaten to a pulp when she couldn't. He had seemed so invincible, and she had felt weaker, unable to take control of her life. She felt like that now, so weak and insecure. Only this time it was worse. Instead of having one little girl to protect, she had this group. All depending on her, and she wasn't certain she could protect them. She could barely protect herself. She was certain she had killed him before, but now, having fought him again, she knew he was alive. His death had brought her confidence, but with him alive, that foundation had been ripped from under her. "It feels hopeless..." she muttered, having forgotten that Sesshomaru was next to her.

"Nothing is hopeless, Luna." He kissed her gently. "I need you to train me. Make me able to fight him." There was no need for either of them to clarify which "him" they were refering to. "Then I could help you... but you have to help me to help you." He pulled her into a hug carefully.

To his surprise, Luna hugged him back. "I would like that." Slowly, she sat up and glanced at the food on the tray. "I should probably be eating that..."

"You should."

Luna picked at the pigeon again, this time getting more of the food with each bite.

Right at this moment, Rose showed up again, holding a small bottle with a green liquid in it. "Oh, you got rid of it before I got back... How? Normally it takes a bottle of mind purifier to get rid of dispiriting..."

"Dispiriting? I thought she was just depressed... So I talked to her."

"Well, I'm still going to leave this here. You never know when it's going to happen again..." Rose set the bottle down and quietly left, leaving Luna to stare after her for a moment.

"Something wrong?"

"She didn't even say hi to me!" Luna took a big bite of pigeon. "How dare she!" Another big bite followed.

"Do you eat when you're angry?"

"Sometimes..." Another large bite followed. "What the hell does that have to do with mom not even saying hi?" Two more bites disappeared.

"Nothing... I was just curious." Sesshomaru watched as Luna finished devouring the pigeon and turned to the candy bar. Ripping the pack open,it was obvious why the shopkeepers had thrown it out. It was completely melted, oozing out of the wrapper the second it was open. Luna didn't mind, however. She took the pack and drained it, leaving a flat piece of foil. Putting it down, she glanced at her tray again, looking for more food. Nothing else edible was there. Sighing, Luna layed back, leaving Sesshomaru to stare at the empty tray. "Would you like me to take that for you?"

"Sure. You don't have to come back in here if you don't want to though... I'll be busy planning your training."


	24. Chapter 24

Sesshomaru blinked in confusion. Of all the strange things he had seen Luna do, this was the wierdest thing yet. They were outside, back in Feudal Era Japan, and Sesshomaru was staring at two wheelbarrows, with straps attached and the 'barrow' part bent.

"Alright, it is time to begin the 'how-to-not-be-killed-by a-wingly' class. Humans, as you know, are the slowest of the sentient creatures. You won't be able to outpace a wingly, no matter what I do to you. Those of you that don't have dragoon spirits will have to help out with training those that can outpace winglies, given the proper training. And by help out, I mean get in these carts and be carried around. You'll weigh the trainees down, which will improve their speed and stamina over time. Demons without dragoon spirits," Luna turned to Sesshomaru and Zakura, "You'll be carrying those carts. Rin, you'll be learning basic combat skills from Makoto, since there's only one of you and Shippo is half your weight, which would unbalance my weight-training idea. Inuyasha, Kagome, since you both have dragoon spirits, I'm going to teach you how to fly and land without eating dirt... or brick... or rock... or anything airborne..." Luna paused as she tried to get back on track. "I'll get the runners started first." Luna signaled for two demons to come out from behind a tree. "I knew you two followed me. Get over here and get in a cart. Not the same cart. I want a boys' team and a girls' team."

The first demon to step out was a thin male fox demon that everyone recognized. "Dad?" Makoto's expression was a mixture of shock and confusion. "You actually wanted to train?"

"Of course not! I wanted to watch everyone else work. Looks like I'm gonna be part of the work now..." He sat down in the wheelbarrow closest to Sesshomaru.

The second, however, no one seemed to be able to identify. Even her species was hard to tell. She was short, which led one to believe she could be a fox demon, yet her black hair and pointed ears signaled that she could be a purebred wolf demon.

"Ame, you are so slow! Hurry up!" Luna motioned towards the empty wheelbarrow.

"Well, I'm trying not to be trolled over here! I can't tell if you're trolling or just being stupid! If I get in the cart, then I'll break Zakura's back!"

"Nonsense. She's had to carry me, and I weigh more than you _and _the damn cart!"

"And pigs have wings and grant wishes."

"And I accidentally the god damned batman, now get in the freaking cart!"

"Ame, I wouldn't be picking fights with the troll queen..." Elidian rolled his eyes. "She'll just find a way to rickroll you later..."

"Damn it, Elidian! I was trying to win this troll match!"

"You lost before it began." Luna caught the girl's attention again. Her voice, Sesshomaru noticed, had never actually been harsh or annoyed, but amused by the entire situation. "Now, are you going to get in this cart or must I use troll physics on you, Lady Trollbait?"

"Fine..." Ame stalked over to the cart, trying to hide the smirk on her face as she sat down.

Miroku and Sango, who had been watching this in utter confusion, simply shrugged and walked over to their respective carts.

"Alright, now where are my runners?"

"Over here, Batty!" Zakura jumped up and down behind Sesshomaru, waving her arms. After a few seconds, she stopped and jumped onto his back so that she could see over him. "We ready?"

"Yeah, Squirrel. We're ready. Could you get off of Sesshomaru? He isn't even a tree..."

"But he's as tall as one!"

Luna grinned, then put her feet together. Standing up straight, she put her arms up in a 'v' shape and spread her fingers out. In a deep voice, she muttered, "I am a tree."

"Tree!" Zakura jumped from Sesshomaru to Luna, grinning like a maniac. At the last second, Luna disappeared, leaving Zakura to land right next to her cart. "Hey, no shadow tricks!"

Luna stuck her head up from the shadow on the ground. "But it's fun!"

Ame leaned over towards Sango and whispered, "That's the perfect argument for any situation. Wouldn't you agree?"

Sango, too surprised by Luna's actions, simply nodded.

Luna climbed out of the shadow carefully, the action resembling her climbing out of a hole. "Alright, enough horsing around... Pick up your carts and get ready to begin."

Quietly, Zakura and Sesshomaru obeyed. Another person who had tagged along with Elidian stepped out. "I suppose I'm the one they'll be chasing?"

"Yup. You're our racing rabbit, Angelo." Luna turned to the cart carriers. "Chase him. And... go!"

Angelo rushed out of the clearing, black ponytail waving like a ribbon in the breeze. On his heels was Sesshomaru and Zakura.

Turning around quickly, Luna glanced over to Rin and Makoto, who were already started at their training. "Well, that makes this easier. Alright, you two. Time to learn to fly. Turn into dragoons." She waited while they figured it out. When two fully-transformed dragoons stood before her, she smiled. "Alright, flap your wings gently and feel how much lift you get. Gently now-" Luna was cut off when Inuyasha put way too much force behind his wing-flapping and lifted himself right over Luna's head. He crash-landed right behind her, his head taking the impact. "I said gently. Twice."

Inuyasha slowly recovered from his fall and stood back up.

"Try again. _Gently._"

Inuyasha tried again, obeying her, and to his surprise, he didn't end up with a mouth full of dirt. He had gently lifted himself six inches off of the ground and landed again.

"When you land, remember to flap your wings gently to slow you down. No use in landing like a demon if you can land like a bird. It's safer that way. Now, for actual flight. Listen closely." Luna transformed herself into her dragoon form. "To lift off, use stronger flaps. To stay in the air, use moderate flaps. We cannot hover more than a foot off of the ground, so have an idea of where you're going before lifting off. To land, use soft and light flaps. Now. Let's fly to the top of this tree." Luna motioned towards the largest tree in the forest, which was right next to her. Flapping her wings rather loudly, she soared above their heads, landing neatly in the top of the tree, then looking down to watch her students.

Kagome decided that she would try it before Inuyasha. Awkwardly, she flapped her wings and got two feet off of the ground, then fell onto her belly unexpectedly, one foot up in the air, arms spread out across the unforgiving earth.

Luna tried not to laugh. 'Who would have thought beginners were so fun to watch?'

Inuyasha helped her up, then flapped his wings eagerly. Perhaps too eagerly, because he missed his target... and kept going.

Luna sprang up from the branch she had been perched on, and soared high above the clouds. 'At this rate, he's going to-' Luna was hit full-force by Inuyasha's weight, knocking her out of the sky. As she hurtled towards terra firma, she tried to get ahold of him. Catching his arm, she pulled him as close to herself as she could and spread her wings. They slowed down dramatically, but not for long. The slow down had been enough to make them fall faster. Luna flapped her wings once she was able to move them, slowly gaining control over their landing.

With a soft thud, Luna's feet touched the ground. Inuyasha blinked in confusion. "What just happened?"

"You flew up until your wings froze. Then I had to catch you. Next time, try to be careful, ok? We don't need to have to find another fire dragoon."

"Keh." The half-demon stood up. So, are we continuing the lessons or not?"

Luna stared blankly at the sky. Something didn't seem quite right with the way the stars were lighting up. Nothing felt correct about the way that the wind was blowing. Her skin was crawling with the sense that something horrible was going on, disrupting the flows of energy around her. "No..."

"What's wrong?" Kagome waved her hand in front of Luna's face. "Hello?"

"...He lives again..."


	25. Chapter 25

Luna couldn't remember what had happened next, only that there was now a very panicked Sesshomaru holding her and running. He appeared to be running for his life, but from what, Luna couldn't tell. A flash of metal caught her attention and an all-too-familiar scent hit her nostrils.

Sesshomaru grunted as the blade hit him. He knew that if Luna hadn't had him train, he wouldn't have made it this far, but also that if they hadn't been training, he would have gotten to her sooner. His instincts screamed at him the second she had passed out, but it took him a minute to find his way back. He knew there wasn't much he could do now. Just run and try to keep her from him, but this tactic was beginning to fail. He was getting more and more exhausted. She was beginning to feel like a lead weight. Lloyd wasn't showing the slightest bit of exhaustion.

In his thoughts, he had almost not noticed that he had tripped over a tree root. As Lloyd slowed down, preparing for his kill, Sesshomaru's head hit a rock. He felt consciousness slipping away as he noticed Luna moving to get up. 'Please... don't get killed...'

Dark stone surrounded him. He was in an odd room filled with decayed tools and odd objects that gave off a slight aura. The room was as cold as death itself. An eerie glow lit up the room enough to see. In the center was a man with sandy hair and crimson armor. He appeared to be a swordsman, about as old as Sesshomaru. The man opened his eyes and gazed at Sesshomaru for a moment before looking through his pocket for something.

"Where are we?" The man did not reply, simply checking his other pocket. There was something familiar about him, though Sesshomaru could not place it.

The man looked up, holding a round silver stone. "Do you know a woman named Lunari? More than likely still goes by Luna?"

Sesshomaru's eyes widened as the man looked up, and widened more when the man spoke. 'Those eyes... They're just like Luna's! And he knows her?' "She's my mate, why do you ask?"

"She's my little sister." The man held out the stone to Sesshomaru. "Take this and keep her safe. I'll be keeping a close eye on you..." The man gave Sesshomaru a dangerous look as the last words rang out.

Sesshomaru took the stone from the man and the room seemed to change. The mysterious man faded and so did the eerie light. Sesshomaru was left in darkness.

Slowly, the lights began to return. He opened his eyes to find himself on the forest floor, witnessing Luna and Lloyd fighting. Lloyd had her pinned down and was bending her arm the wrong way. Luna was squirming to get her arm free so that she could transform. Sesshomaru noticed something sparkling beside him. Picking it up, he realized that it was the stone the mysterious man had given him. 'With this, if I'm right about what this is...' He focused his energy into it and transformed. He found himself covered in thick, silver armor with seven wings behind him. 'I can save her...'

Lloyd got the air knocked out of his lungs as Sesshomaru tackled him. Luna rolled onto her back, reaching for her dragoon spirit. Finding the pouch, she transformed herself. Lloyd froze as he realized he was now one wingly against two dragoons. "Damn... We'll continue this later." Before either one could stop him, Lloyd was gone, leaving Luna and Sesshomaru alone.

"Feeling alright, Sesshy?" Luna smiled at him.

"Only if you're ok..."

"I am, thanks to you... Though if you had waited five seconds, I would have had a detachable arm."

"Would I have been allowed to borrow it?"

"On the weekends." Luna grinned. She was surprised that he was feeling so well, despite having hit his head on a rock. "Let me examine your head for a second..." Luna inspected it carefully. Not even a bruise was left. "Wow... you heal quick..."

"There you guys are- Sesshomaru, why do you have so many wings?" Kagome froze. This armor was all-too-familiar. Flashbacks were running through her head about when Lloyd had attacked the apartment. She had not been able to use her dragoon spirit, thus, had been completely helpless as she watched her new friends get hurt trying to stop him.

"He found his dragoon spirit... speaking of which, where did you find it?" Luna glanced up at him.

Sesshomaru recounted his time in the strange room and waking up right next to it.

"So that was that shiny thing that flew out of his pocket..."

"Huh?"

"When you had fallen, I got up and lunged at him. I remember we fought for a bit, then I kicked him near his pants pocket and something oddly shiny flew out of it... I think he didn't even notice."

"...How odd..."

Authoress: *passes out from exhaustion*

Zakura: ...I can't believe she intends on keeping this up all summer...

Ame: *nods* Scary, huh? I wonder how much she'll get done...

Zakura: Well, we need to close this for her... Sayonara, everyone.


End file.
